*it'j."£'iBa£ 



MEMOIR 



OF 



ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 




MEMOIR 



OF 



ABBOTT LAWRENCE 



BY 



HAMILTON ANDREWS HILL 



WITH AN APPENDIX 



SECOND EDITION 



BOSTON 
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 

188-1 



C*4 



Copyright, 1884, 
By Hamilton Andrews Hill. 



SHmbcrsitu i0ress: 
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. 



&5 



TO 



OF 

ABBOTT LAWRENCE 

(THIRD OF THE NAME) 

THIS MEMOIR 

OF 

HIS GRANDFATHER 

IS 

INSCRIBED. 






PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



When Mr. Lawrence died, in 1855, a public meeting 
of the citizens of Boston was held in Faneuil Hall, at 
which Mr. Everett and Mr. Winthrop made addresses; 
and brief memoirs were written, one by Mr. Prescott 
at the request of the family, and one by Mr. Nathan 
Appleton for the Massachusetts Historical Society. It 
was the expectation that these would be followed by a 
more extended biography, for which ample material 
existed in the letters and papers left by Mr. Lawrence. 
This work was postponed for various reasons, and in 1872 
the larger part of the papers and correspondence which 
had been depended upon for the purpose was destroyed 
in the great Boston fire. 

In 1880 the New England Historic Genealogical Society 
commenced the publication of the lives of its deceased 
members, to be printed in a series of volumes at the expense 
of the Towne Memorial Fund, and the writer prepared 
a biographical sketch of Mr. Lawrence for the second 
volume. He was confined of necessity, in his treatment 
of the subject, within narrow limits, and was able to 
make use of a portion only of the material which he had 
brought together by an examination of the newspapers, 
and from other sources of information. It was suggested, 
therefore, that he should rewrite and amplify what he 



X PREFACE . 

had prepared for the Historic Genealogical Society. This 
he has clone, and he now presents a somewhat fuller 
record of Mr. Lawrences life and career than has yet 
appeared, with such of his addresses and public letters 
as are extant, and as seem to be of permanent in- 
terest. Some of the more important of his despatches 
while Minister to England will be found in the Appendix, 
— together with the Letters on the Tariff, addressed to 
Mr. Hives, which have long been out of print. 

In 1832 Mr. Lawrence sat to Chester Harding for 
his portrait. A copy of this, by Moses Wight, was sent 
to London in 1856 to be engraved by Francis Holl ; and 
from one of his proofs (the plate having been destroyed) 
impressions have been taken by the heliotype process 
for this Memoir. 

The author desires to make acknowledgment of the 
valuable aid which he has received from Mr. Abbott 
Lawrence. A warm interest in the progress of the 
Memoir was also manifested by Abbott Lawrence, the 
grandson, whose recent death is sincerely mourned by 
many friends outside his immediate circle, and of whom it 
will be altogether appropriate to make brief mention here. 
Graduating at Harvard College in 1875, he spent two 
years in the Law School at Cambridge, and took his 
LL.B. in 1877. In August of the same year he started 
on a journey round the world, from which he returned 
in the summer of 1879, and a vear later he was acl- 
mitted to the bar. He kept a journal of his travels in 
Asia and the East, which he afterward carefully revised. 
The result of his observation abroad was to deepen his 
attachment for and appreciation of his own country, and 
to strengthen his purpose to serve it in every way within 
his power. He joined the volunteer militia of the State, 



PREFACE. xi 

and became an active member of General Sutton's staff. 
He took a profound interest in politics, both local and 
national, and was in full sympatic with all efforts for 
their elevation and purification. He could not under- 
stand the feelings of those who manifest no concern 
about public affairs, and who are indifferent to the results 
of elections. To him it meant much to be a citizen, and 
he would have shrunk from none of the responsibilities 
of citizenship to which he might have been called had 
he lived longer. His future seemed full of promise ; 
but his sun was to sink below the horizon while it was 
yet day. Insidious disease had taken hold upon him, 
and, almost before its presence was suspected, the worst 
symptoms began to show themselves. He sought a 
milder climate, but in vain ; and on the 15th of March 
last, at Nassau, New Providence, he passed away. He 
was twenty-eight years of age on the 16th of January 
preceding. We must believe that the event of his death 
was divinely, and therefore wisely, ordered. 

" But who shall so forecast the years, 
And find in loss a gain to match ? 
Or reach a hand through time to catch 
The far-off interest of tears ? " 

Boston, December 29, 1882. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Parentage — Birth — Education „ ] 



CHAPTER II. 

Removal to Boston — Firm of A. & A. Lawrence — First Visit 
to Europe — Marriage 5 

CHAPTER III. 

The Rise of Lowell — Railroad Construction — The State of 
the Country in 1837 9 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Essex Company — The Rise of Lawrence — The Pacific 
Mills 23 

CHAPTER V. 

The Tariff — Overtures from Virginia L>7 

CHAPTER VI. 

Water Supply for Boston — The Citizen Soldiery .... 38 

CHAPTER VII. 

Service in Congress — The Ashburton Treaty 56 



XIV TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

PAGE 

A Visit to England — The loss of the Steamship "Columbia" 69 

CHAPTER IX. 

Whig Politics — TnE Nominations of Mr. Clay and General 

Taylor — The Vice-presidency — The Mission to England 75 

CHAPTEK X. 

Residence in England — The Mosquito Protectorate — The 

Exhibition of 1851 — Return to the United States ... 85 

CHAPTER XL 

Interest in the Cause of Education — The Lawrence Scien- 
tific School 112 

CHAPTER XII. 

Religious Character — Interest in English Congregation- 
alism — Sickness and Death — Estimate of his Character 
and Works — Published Writings — Portraits — Conclusion 125 



APPENDIX. 



LETTERS ON THE TARIFF. 

I. To the Hon. W. C. Rives Jan. 7, 1846 . . 151 

II. To the same Jan. 16, 1816 . . 156 

III. To the same Feb. 23, 1816 . . 171 



DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 

THE NAVIGATION LAWS. 
I. To Mr. Clayton Nov. 2, 1849 . . 182 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. X V 

CENTRAL AMERICA. 



PAGE 

185 

188 
188 
191 
228 



II. To Mr. Clayton Nov. 9, 1849 

III. To the same Dec. 28, 1849 

[Enclosure] To Lord Palmerston . Dec. 14, 1849 

IV. To the same April 19, 1850 

V. To the same June 7, 1850 

INTERNATIONAL POSTAGE. 

VI. To Mr. Webster Oct. 24, 1851 . . 230 

VII. To the same May 7, 1852 . . 231 

THE CONDITION OF IRELAND. 
VIII. To Mr. Webster Dec. 2, 1851 . . 234 

THE CLOSING OF THE MISSION. 
IX. To Mr. Webster ....... Sept. 30, 1852 . . 241 



INDEX 



249 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



"When the first edition of this Memoir appeared, which 
had been printed for private distribution, the wish was 
expressed by some who had known Mr. Lawrence per- 
sonally, and by others who remembered with interest 
his prominence and usefulness in various walks of life, 
that a wider circulation should be given to the work than 
had been anticipated or attempted for it. Its publica- 
tion at this time is in response to this wish. The Me- 
moir has been carefully revised, and several additions 
have been made to it. It contains a more complete 
account of Mr. George Peabody's dinner, given in London 
at the close of the International Exhibition of 1851, with 
the speech made by Mr. Lawrence on that occasion, and 
a fuller record of the tributes to his public services and 
private character, which, on both sides of the Atlantic, 
were called forth by his death. 

Boston, February 16, 1884. 



M E M O I R. 



CHAPTER I. 

PARENTAGE. — BIRTH. — EDUCATION. 

Tfte circumstances are altogether exceptional which 
call for the preparation of a new memoir of one whose 
death took place a quarter of a century ago ; and the 
character and career must be regarded also as exceptional 
which, after the lapse of such a period, are found to be 
no less interesting and suggestive as a study than at the 
first. The hour of bereavement, when the personal or 
public loss is freshly and most keenly felt, is not always 
favorable for a comprehensive and impartial estimate of 
conduct or service. The time comes later when the judg- 
ment can act broadly and without bias, and when, upon 
a careful consideration of the completed life as a whole, 
an opinion can be formed which shall be both just and 
abiding;. 

" The glory dies not, and the grief is past." 

Much of that which was merely local or transitory may 
be either forgotten or made subordinate in the review ; 
but all that was truly excellent will stand out in bolder 
and grander relief. Fortunate is the reputation which 
will bear the tests applied by a succeeding generation, and 
whose brightness does not diminish as the years roll on. 
Such a reputation is that which Abbott Lawrence left 

behind him, upon which his associates and contemporaries 

i 



2 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

placed a high estimate, but which loses nothing from 
among the eminent qualities accorded to it by them, 
when regarded under different circumstances and from 
another and a more distant point of view. A field which 
has been harvested by Prescott and Appleton, by Win- 
tlirop and Everett, has only scant gleanings for any one 
who may follow after. In the present work we must de- 
pend largely upon the material laid up in store by these 
authorities; whatever we may derive from other and 
later sources of information will be seen to justify their 
judgment and to confirm their award. 

The family of the Lawrences, which has become so 
prominently identified with the county of Suffolk, in 
New England, had long been settled in the county of the 
same name in the mother-land. The Puritan ancestor, 
John Lawrence, emigrated to Massachusetts in 1635, 
settling first in Watertown, and removing in 1660 to 
Groton, where he lived to a good old age, and at his death 
left a numerous family of sons and daughters. From one 
of the former of these Samuel Lawrence was descended, — 
a man of high character, influential among his fellow- 
townsmen, and a soldier of the Revolution. He was born 
April 24, 1754 ; and on the 22nd of July, 1777, he married 
Susanna, daughter of William Parker of Groton. He 
fought by the side of Colonel Prescott at Bunker Hill ; 
and the musket which he carried in that battle is now in 
the possession of his great-grandson, Mr. Prescott Law- 
rence. At one time during the war he commanded a 
company, the rank and file of which were all negroes, of 
whose courage, military discipline, and fidelity he always 
spoke with respect. On one occasion, being out recon- 
noitring with this company, and going too far in advance 
of his command, he found himself surrounded by the 
enemy, and was on the point of being made a prisoner. 
The men, discovering his peril, rushed to his rescue, and 
fought with the most determined bravery until that rescue 



BIRTH. EDUCATION . 3 

was secured. He never forgot this circumstance, and al- 
ways took especial pains to show kindness and hospitality 
to individuals of the colored race. He died November 8, 
1827. His wife was a woman of strong sense, clear judg- 
ment, and indomitable energy. Like most of the women 
of that day, she was an ardent patriot, espousing the cause 
of the Colonies with intense devotion. From a hill in the 
rear of her father's house in Concord, 1 she saw the British 
troops enter that village on the morning of the 19th of 
April, 1775 ; raid she remained there until she saw them 
pass out in the afternoon, a retreating and baffled foe. 

Abbott Lawrence, 2 the subject of the present memoir, 
was the fifth son of Samuel and Susanna Lawrence. He 
was born in Groton, on the 16th of December, 1792 ; and 
he received his education at the district school and at the 
academy of the town. His father had for many years 
been a trustee of this academy, and it has always retained 
the regard and interest of various members of the family. 
In grateful recognition of the benefactions received from 
them, it is now called the Lawrence Academy. Judged 
by modern standards, the opportunities for education af- 
forded by such an institution might seem meagre enough ; 
but estimating them by the achievements of many of 
those who received no other training before entering 
upon the responsibilities of manhood, it must be admitted 
that the quickening of the intelligence, the habit of inde- 
pendent thought, and the capability for acquiring further 
knowledge by unaided personal effort in subsequent years, 

1 Her mother had married a seeond time and removed to Concord. 

2 Mr. Lawrence received the family name of his paternal grandmother, Abigail 
Abbott, daughter of Nehemiah Abbott of Lexington, Massachusetts. (The Abbotts 
emigrated from Featherstone, Yorkshire. England, where they had been settled for 
many generations.) She was married to Amos Lawrence of Groton (father of 
Samuel Lawrence, and grandfather of Abbott Lawrence), in 1749. A hall clock, 
given to her by her father on her marriage, has descended with the name to the 
present generation. On its brass face is engraved, " Brand, Boston [England]," 
and the four corners are ornamented with a crown. 



4 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

which were developed by these country academies, and 
the general equipment for the battle of practical life 
which they furnished, show them to have been schools of 
no common character. Mr. Lawrence enjoyed nothing 
in the way of educational advantages beyond this ; but. 
he evidently improved the time, and turned all that he 
received to the best account. While he was a student in 
the academy Mr. Caleb Butler was the preceptor. This 
good man lived long enough to participate in the celebra- 
tion and reunion of 1854, on which occasion he received 
the greetings of many of his old pupils, among whom 
were Mr. Lawrence, the Hon. Amos Kendall, the Rev. 
Dr. James Walker, the Hon. Joel Parker, and the Hon. 
John P. Bigelow. Mr. Lawrence made a speech full 
of pleasant reminiscences. Referring to Mr. Butler, he 
said : — 

" I desire to thank God that he is able to be with us to-day » 
at the age of seventy-eight, and to express publicly my obli- 
gations for the sound instruction I received from him. The 
inhabitants of Groton are greatly indebted to Mr. Butler for 
his labors in their behalf; but, above all, for the eminent exam- 
ple he has set them during a residence of a full half century,, 
in his love of truth and justice, and in his integrity of character- 
in all the relations of life. A sweet aroma hangs about his 
name, which, I doubt not, will endure long after he and all of 
us shall have passed away." 

Addressing the pupils of the Academy, he remarked : — 

" My young friends, remember that you possess advantages- 
in this institution now, that did not exist anywhere in this Com- 
monwealth forty years ago. Remember that the present is the 
time for improvement. Cultivate industry, integrity, economy, 
and perseverance. Let your sentiments be open and manly, 
guided by virtuous desires. Let your aims be high. Never be 
discouraged. And do not forget, wherever your lot may be 
cas t, — let none of us, old or young, forget, — this day, or the 
good old town of Groton." 



CHAPTER II. 

REMOVAL TO BOSTON. — FIRM OF A. & A. LAWRENCE. — FIRST 
VISIT TO EUROPE. — MARRIAGE. 

In 1808 Abbott was sent to Boston, and was placed 
as an apprentice in the warehouse of his elder brother, 
Mr. Amos Lawrence, who was already well established in 
business. During the five or six succeeding years he 
prepared himself in this subordinate position, by steady 
application and fidelity, for the weighty responsibilities 
which were soon to come upon him as a principal, and 
such leisure as he could control he devoted to reading 
and study. In 1814, just after his coming of age, he was 
admitted to partnership, and the firm of A. & A. Lawrence 
was founded, which, for the next half-century, was to 
stand as a tower of strength among the business men of 
Boston. Its place of business at the time was in what 
is now a part of Washington Street ; afterwards it was 
in Cornhill, then known as Market Street; later it was in 
Liberty Square ; and in 1845 it was removed to a build- 
ma: in Milk Street, on the corner of Bath Street as it 
then was, erected by Mr. Lawrence for the use of his 
firm, and destroyed in the conflagration of 1872. 1 



1 The street now known as Cornliill, between Washington Street and Court 
Street, was laid out in 1817, and was called Market Street. At that time, according 
to Drake, what was known as Cornhill lay between " Marlborough Street and 
Colson's stone house." Market Street received the name of Cornliill in 1828. 

Bath Street was first called Tanner's Lane, after the tanneries in it ; afterward, 
Horn Lane, because of its crookedness ; and later (1807) it took the name of Bath 
Street, from the baths which were there. Drake describes it thus : " From Milk 



6 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

When the new firm was established, however, the times 
were by no means propitious. The United States was 
in the midst of the last war with Great Britain, and after 
a few months the prospect for the future seemed so uncer- 
tain and unpromising that Abbott proposed to withdraw 
from the business and to enter the army. He had been 
an active member of the New England Guards, one of the 
leading independent companies of the day ; and in the 
condition of affairs at the time, the profession of arms 
seemed to him to offer a career full of enterprise and use- 
fulness. With the consent of his brother, he applied to 
the War Department for a commission ; but, happily, 
before an answer could be received the news of peace 
arrived, and at once he abandoned all thought of a mili- 
tary life. This he always regarded as a providential 
interposition in his behalf. A very different and a hap- 
pier destiny was awaiting him. 

The enterjDrising brothers were quick to see and to 
improve the opportunity which the return of peace opened 
to them. 1 Merchandise of every kind was scarce and clear 

Street, N. to Water Street (1708), between Major Walley's and Mr. Bridgham's 
land." 

The style and address of the firm are given in some of the old Boston Direc- 
tories as follows: 1809,1810, Amos Lawrence (shop keeper), 31 Cornhill; 1813, 
Amos Lawrence (dry goods), 46 Cornhill ; 181G, Amos & Abbott Lawrence (mer- 
chants), 1G Central Street; 1818, 1820, A. &. A. Lawrence (dry goods), 15 Market 
Street; 1821, 1822, 1823, A. & A. Lawrence (English goods), 15 Market Street; 
1825, A. & A. Lawrence & Co. (Lambert Dexter) (merchants), 15 Market Street; 
182G, 1827, 1828, A. & A. Lawrence & Co. (merchants), 11 Liberty Square. 

1 The business men of Boston had maintained their financial credit nobly during 
the gloomy period of the war, and in all the trying years which had preceded it. 
They were, therefore, in a most favorable position for taking advantage of the 
improved condition of affairs which came with the return of peace. In the summer 
of 1815 we find gold and silver and Boston bank-notes quoted in the prices-current 
of other cities at the same rates, while their own notes were at a heavy discount. 

Colonel Perkins wrote as follows to his Canton house, under date of October 4, 
1815 : " Three years of war, and twice that number of restrictions upon commerce, 
had made our people very rigidly economical ; and they bought only what was neces- 
sary, not what was luxurious. In place of a silk gown or pelisse, they purchased 
cotton for the first, and dispensed with the last altogether. So with tea. Although 
they did not wholly forego it, they were careful in the use of it ; and now, to make 
«ip for lost time, they feel as if they may indulge in the fashions of the city, and 



FIRST VISIT TO EUROPE. 7 

in the United States. They were importers, and, then- 
capital and credit being abundant, it was determined that 
Abbott should immediately embark for Europe to pur- 
chase goods for this market. He sailed in the ship 
MUo, Captain Stephen Glover, one of the first vessels 
which left Boston for England after the proclamation of 
peace. " The passage was a short one, but long enough 
for Mr. Lawrence to ingratiate himself not only with the 
officers but with the crew, whose good-will he secured by 
his liberal acts no less than by the kindness of his manners. 
With characteristic ardor, he was the first to leap on shore ; 
being thus, perhaps, the first American who touched his 
fatherland after the war was ended. He met with a cor- 
dial welcome from people who were glad to see their 
commercial relations restored with the United States. 
Hastening to Manchester, Mr. Lawrence speedily made 
his purchases, and returned to Liverpool the evening 
only before the departure of the MUo on her homeward 
voyage. He at once engaged a lighter to take him and 
his merchandise to the vessel. When he came alongside, 
the mate plainly told him there was no room for his goods ; 
the cargo w r as all on board, and the hatches were battened 
down. But Mr. Lawrence would receive no denial. This, 
he said, was his first voyage, and the result was of the 
greatest importance to him. He pressed his suit with so 
much earnestness, yet good-nature, that the mate, whose 
good-will he had won on the passage, consented at last to 
receive the goods. Mr. Lawrence lost no time in profiting 
by this indulgence, and joined his men in pulling vigor- 
ously at the tackle to hoist the bales on board. Having 
safely lodged them on the deck, he made at once for the 
shore, asking no questions how they were to be stored. 

gratify their palates with the beverage of the East. This being the case, it will 
take a long time to overstock the market with silks ; though from the quantity of 
teas on hand when the war began, the importations since, and the economy spoken 
of in the use of it during the war, we think the spring ships will cause a great fall 
of it in the market." — Memoir of Thomas II. Perkins, p. 204. 



8 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

The Milo had a short passage back. In eighty-four clays 
from the time when she had left her port in the United 
States the goods were landed in Boston, and in less than 
a week were disposed of at an enormous profit. His 
brother was delighted with the good judgment he had 
shown, and his extraordinary despatch." 

" This anecdote," says Mr. Prescott, in whose language 
we have given it, " is eminently characteristic of the man, 
showing as it does the sanguine temper and energy of 
will which, combined with kindness of heart, gained him 
an influence over others, and formed the elements of his 
future success." 

Mr. LaAvrence remained abroad for some time on the 
occasion of this his first trip, and made a visit to the 
Continent, where he saw the allied armies immediately 
after the battle of Waterloo. Subsequently he made 
other voyages to Europe. Afterwards Mr. Lambert Dex- 
ter went to London as the resident partner of the firm, 
and remained there until 1832. 

On the 28th of June, 1819, Mr. Lawrence was married 
to Katharine, eldest daughter of the Hon. Timothy Bige- 
low, a distinguished lawyer and public man, formerly of 
Groton, then of Medford, who was at the time, as for many 
years previously he had been, Speaker of the Massachu- 
setts House of Representatives. Of this marriage Mr. 
Prescott says : " It was a most happy union, continuing 
for more than thirty-five years, until it was dissolved by 
death. In the partner of his choice he found the qualities 
of a true and loving wife, ever ready to share with him 
all his joys and sorrows, — for the lot of the most fortunate 
has its sorrows, and sharp ones. These feelings he, on his 
part, returned from first to last with the warmth and single- 
hearted devotion which belonged to his noble nature." 



CHAPTER III. 

THE RISE OF LOWELL. — RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION. — THE STATE 

OF THE COUNTRY IN 1837. 

The power-loom was introduced into the United States 
by Mr. Francis C. Lowell, in 1814. In the autumn of 
that year it was put into successful operation in the Wal- 
tham Mill, which had been erected for the purpose by 
Mr. Lowell, Mr. Patrick T. Jackson, Mr. Nathan Appleton, 
and other gentlemen. Under the influence of the War of 
1812 the manufacture of cotton floods in New England 
had largely increased, but the methods as yet were very 
imperfect. The return of peace gave the movement 
temporarily a severe check. It took a fresh start in 
connection with the improved machinery then coming 
into general use, and made a prosperous advance under 
the tariff of 1816, which Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Lowndes 
were so prominent in framing into law, and in connec- 
tion with which Mr. Clay first appeared as the advocate 
of " a thorough and decided protection to home manu- 
factures by ample duties." A few years later the founda- 
tions of the city of Lowell were laid. Mr. Appleton has 
left a record of his first visit to the site on the banks of 
the Merrimac, which had been selected for the future city. 
It was in the month of November, 1821, and a slight 
snow covered the ground. Mr. Patrick T. Jackson, Mr. 
Kirk Boott, and others, were of the party. "We peram- 
bulated the grounds," says Mr. Appleton, "and scanned 
(he capabilities of the place, and the remark was made 



10 ABBOTT LAWKENCE. 

that some of us might live to see the place contain twenty 
thousand inhabitants. At that time there were, I think, 
less than a dozen houses on what now constitutes the city 
of Lowell, or, rather, the thickly settled parts of it." 

Messrs. A. & A. Lawrence soon engaged largely in the 
sale of cotton and woollen goods of domestic manufacture, 
but they did not become interested in the mills at Lowell 
until 1830. " On the establishment of the Suffolk, Tre- 
mont, and Lawrence Companies, as well as subsequently 
in other corporations, they became large proprietors. 
From this time their business as selling agents was on the 
most extensive scale, and their income from all sources 
large in proportion." x 

Mr. Lawrence's interest in the work of railroad con- 
struction in New England was hardly less than in the 
establishment and extension of its manufacturing system. 
So enterprising and sagacious a business man as he could 
not fail to foresee, and in good measure to appreciate, the 
benefits which the new facilities for transportation would 
surely bring to his own city as well as to the country at 
large ; and we find, as we might expect, that he was 
earnest and enthusiastic and among the foremost in pro- 
moting the success of the various trunk-lines as they 
were projected. He subscribed liberally to all of them, 
with reference more to the indirect than to the direct 
profits from his investment in them, and he favored always 

1 A letter from a Southern gentleman, who had just been travelling in New 
England, may be found in " Niles' Weekly Register " of November 11, 1826, which 
gives an interesting view of the manufactures of these States, particularly in cotton, 
at that time. There were then 280,000 spindles, running on the average 280 days 
in the year, and consuming each half a pound of raw cotton per diem, which is 110 
pounds to the spindle per annum, equal to 98,000 bales of cotton. There were 400 
buildings ; " about one third of these buildings," says the writer of the letter, 
" weave by power looms, one other third carry on the weaving by hand, perhaps 
rather more ; and the others spin and send off the yarn to the Middle or Western 
States, where it is either woven by hand, under contractors, as around Philadelphia, 
or in families, as in the Western Country." 

At the beginning of the year 18S2 the cotton-mills of New England contained 
between nine and ten million spindles, consuming at the rate of from twelve to 
fourteen hundred thousand bales of cotton per annum. 






RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION. 11 

the broadest and most comprehensive plans. He was 
associated with Messrs. Thomas B. Wales, John Bryant, 
Joseph W. Revere, and others, in projecting the Boston 
and Providence Railroad ; but his duties and responsibil- 
ities in connection with the Lowell mills made it impos- 
sible for him to serve as director in this or any other 
railroad corporation. One of the boldest undertakings of 
the time was the construction of the line between Worces- 
ter and Albany, called the Western Railroad. Captain 
Basil Hall, who travelled in the United States and Canada 
in 1827 and 1828, and who, in the language of Carlyle 
in one of his posthumous papers, acquired a kind of thin 
celebrity as a small lion for a time, recorded in the second 
volume of his Journals as follows : — 

" We traversed a considerable portion of the route over which 
it has been seriously proposed, I was assured, to carry a railroad 
between the cities of Boston and Albany. No single State, 
much less any section of the Union, it seems, likes to be out- 
done by any other State ; and this feeling of rivalry, stimulated 
by the success of the great Erie Canal, — an undertaking highly 
favored by nature, — has, I suppose, suggested the visionary 
project in question. In answer to the appeals frequently made 
to my admiration of this scheme, I was compelled to admit that 
there was much boldness in the conception ; but I took the 
liberty of adding that I conceived the boldness lay in the con- 
ception alone, for if it were executed, its character would be 
changed into madness." 

There were very sensible men, much nearer home, who 
took the same view ; but there were others who could 
see further, and who would not be satisfied until they 
had made what they saw a reality to the faith and hope 
of the community around them. 

In the progress of the final effort, which was made 
during the autumn of 1835, a large meeting was held in 
Faneuil Hall (October 7), at which Mr. Lawrence pre- 
sided, and speeches were made by Edward Everett, Amasa 



12 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

Walker, Henry Williams, and others. The remarks of 
Mr. Lawrence, on taking the chair, are reported in the 
" Commercial Gazette," as follows : — 

" Mr. Lawrence said that two or three weeks ago a prelim- 
inary meeting had been held, and that a large committee was 
then appointed to take the whole subject into consideration, and 
to report thereon to a full meeting of citizens. That committee, 
after a fall investigation, had prepared their Report, which 
would be presented for the consideration of the meeting. It 
was not his intention to enter fully into the merits of the ques- 
tion, because there were probably those present prepared to 
speak, who fully understood the subject, and who (lie said) 
could discuss it much better than himself. He would, however, 
take occasion to give his opinion on the project, as a business 
man addressing a community of practical men. 

"From the experience of the last few months with the rail- 
ways now open from this city, 1 every man could judge of the 
benefits derived from them. The railroads, extending only a 
short distance into the interior, had already added greatty to 
the number of strangers in pursuit of business to the cily. The 
plan in contemplation was to extend these railroads to the 
Hudson, and thence, through the great lakes, to the far West, 
the Southwest, and the South, embracing the vast valley of the 
Mississippi. The effect would be to double and quadruple the 
whole business of the cit} r . The immense advantage to the city 
of New York of the great Western canals was a subject of 
universal notoriety. The opening of those canals in 1825 had 
the immediate effect of advancing real estate fifty per cent in 
the centre of that cit} r , and of a still greater advance in the 
suburbs and vicinity. 

" We had no great navigable waters running to this city, 
and such as we had ran the wrong way for the great purposes 
of business. But railroads were considered by many as even 
better than rivers. The object was to supply the place of great 
navigable rivers in all directions from this city by railroads. 
He was reluctant to say all he felt in regard to the advantages 

1 At this time two trains daily, each way, were running from Boston to Lowell, 
to Worcester, and to Providence, and to and from the last-named place there was 
the New York steamboat train in addition. 



THE BOSTON AND ALBANY RAILROAD. 13 

to be derived from these great thoroughfares, lest some who 
heard him should consider him as over-sanguine and visionary ; 
but lie was never more sincere in his life than in declaring it 
as his opinion that the proposed plan would be of immense 
advantage to the whole city. A railroad had been already 
projected from Albany to the Massachusetts line ; another, from 
another point lower down the Hudson to the same point; and, 
recently, the people of Troy, jealous of the movements of their 
immediate neighbors of Albany, had also projected another to 
Stockbridge. The question then was, What is to be done here, 
to co-operate with these great schemes of internal improvement ? 
It appeared clear to his mind that the people of Boston ought 
to unite their energies in the accomplishment of the good work. 
If every citizen would but take hold according to his means, it 
would be an easy task, and its speedy consummation might be 
anticipated. 'But,' continued Mr. Lawrence, ' without detain- 
ing the meeting longer, as there are others more competent to 
do justice to the subject, I will advert to a single other con- 
sideration. The proposed improvement will add another golden 
link to the great chain which binds this glorious Union 
together.' " 



'»■ 



Mr. Lawrence truly represented the spirit and aim of 
the enterprising men who were pushing this great work, 
when he spoke of direct communication with the Missis- 
sippi valley. One of the resolutions adopted at the meet- 
ing described the proposed railroad as " between Boston 
and the western part of this State, and also between 
Massachusetts and New York and the Western States ;' : 
and Mr. Everett, in the course of his remarks, said : 
" Don't talk of reaching Buffalo, sir: talk of the Falls of 
St. Anthony and the Council Bluffs." 1 A large and in- 
fluential committee was appointed, representing every 

1 Mr. Everett has given us his own recollections of this meeting, as follows: 
" Mr. Lawrence contributed efficiently to get up that meeting, and took a very active 
part in the measures proposed by it. It was my fortune to take some part in the 
proceedings. At the end of my speech, for which he had furnished me valuable 
materials and suggestions, he said to me, with that beaming smile which we all 
remember so well, ' Mr. Everett, we shall live to see the banks of the (Jpper Missis- 
sippi connected by iron bands with State Street.'" 



14 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

ward in the city, which sought to reach personally and 
appeal directly to everybody interested in the commer- 
cial prosperity of Boston, " from the capitalist to the car- 
man." Three months later, Mr. Everett, in his first 
message as Governor of the Commonwealth, had the 
happiness of congratulating the Legislature that the sub- 
scription of two millions to the capital stock of the com- 
pany had been filled. The first subscription on the part 
of the State of a million dollars was authorized during; 
the same session (1836). In the ten years which fol- 
lowed the completion of the line to Albany, and which 
also witnessed the establishment of the Cunard Steamship 
Company at the port of Boston, the taxable valuation of 
the city increased from sixty million to ninety million 
dollars, and the foreign importations from fourteen mil- 
lion to twenty-eight million dollars. 1 

In the midst of pressing business duties and cares, Mr. 
Lawrence found time, as will be seen more particularly 
as we proceed with our narrative, for a careful study of 
public affairs. On the completion of his first term of 
congressional service, a large number of his constituents 
invited him to meet them at a public dinner to be given 
in his honor. The letter of invitation (March 22, 1837) 
was signed by Thomas B. Curtis, Henry Edwards, James 
K. Mills, James Read, Andrew T. Hall, and others, and 
made reference to the more important questions of the 
day in which he had especially interested himself while 
at Washington. His reply, in which he sketched the 
condition of the country at the time in its industrial and 
financial aspects, may appropriately be given here. 

Boston, March 25, 1837. 
Gentlemen, — Your letter of the 22nd inst. I received last 
evening, inviting me, in behalf of a number of my late constitu- 

1 The following are some of the statistics of the commerce of Boston for 1835 : 
Foreign arrivals, 1,302; Coastwise arrivals, 3,879; Foreign clearances, 1,225; 
Coastwise clearances, 2,900; Receipts of flour, 408,569 bbls., of cotton, 80,709 
!>ales, and of corn, 948,115 busli., all water-borne. 



LETTER ON" PUBLIC AFFAIRS. 15 

ents, to accept of a public dinner which you have been pleased 
to say is tendered to me as a testimony of respect for my private, 
and an approval of my public, character. 

This unexpected demonstration of esteem and confidence, 
coming from those with whom I have been associated for years, 
even from the day that I first entered this city, a poor, unknown, 
and friendless boy, fills me with the deepest sensibility and de- 
mands my most grateful and profound acknowledgments. 

When I accepted the high and important trust of representing 
this district in Congress, I well knew the responsibility I had 
assumed, and did not take it upon myself without much solici- 
tude, distrusting my ability to fulfil the reasonable expectations 
of my friends. I felt that great indulgence would be extended 
to me in consequence of my entire want of experience, never 
having been before a member of a legislative body ; but I could 
not forget the distinguished individuals who Jiad preceded me, 
all of them eminent for their talents, acquirements, and prac- 
tical information. I took my seat in Congress with a full knowl- 
edge of my deficiencies, but with a feeling of patriotic devotion 
to the public interests, which I fondly hoped would sustain me, 
not only in the House, but with my constituents and the 
country. If the trust confided to me by the people of this 
district has been discharged to their satisfaction, it is the high- 
est reward that can be conferred upon me. 

In the discharge of my public duties, it has been my fate to 
entertain opinions differing from those of the late Executive and 
a majority of Congress ; and in speaking of some of the measures 
of the late administration, I beg to be understood as meaning no- 
personal disrespect to General Jackson or any other individual : 
I shall briefly comment upon measures and not men. 

I have always kept in view in legislation those principles 
which would carry home to the many the greatest amount of 
prosperity and happiness, believing that the FEW can always 
take care of themselves. Who are the many ? Are they not 
farmers, mechanics, traders, and laborers ? And who are the 
few? Are they not the money-holders and money-lenders of 
the country ? The latter class can transfer their persons and 
property to any given place in or out of the country, having 
means always about them to do so. It is not the case with the 
former class : a farmer cannot remove his farm, nor the mechanic 



16 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

his shop. The wealth of the country is founded in its labor, and 
in giving security to the labor we protect the property of the 
whole country. 

A system of measures has been recommended by the late 
Executive, and some of them adopted, which are now in a 
course of development, that will tend to place an undue pro- 
portion of the property of the country in the hands of over- 
grown capitalists at the expense of the other classes of society. 
The present state of the currency is a perfect illustration of 
this position ; and the question now is, What have been the 
causes of its deranged condition throughout the Union ? There 
are different opinions in regard to the causes, but none as 
to the effects. The most reasonable explanation may per- 
haps be found in a series of measures, commencing with Gen- 
eral Jackson's veto of the charter of the Bank of the United 
States in 1832, followed by a removal of the public money 
in 1833. The moment the charter of the Bank was vetoed, 
an expectation prevailed that it would be forced to wind up 
its concerns on the 4th March, 1836, and a large number of 
banks were chartered in several of the States. In October, 
1833, the Public Deposits were removed, and placed, if my 
memory serves me, as soon as it could conveniently be done, in 
thirty-six banks, over which the Government had not the least 
control, and all acting independently of each other. 

While they remained in the Bank of the United States, 
they were employed throughout the country for legitimate com- 
mercial purposes, but when they were placed in these thirty- 
six independent institutions, a large amount of the Government 
money took a new direction ; it was completely withdrawn 
from • the regular channels of trade, causing a great scarcity, 
which stimulated the chartering by the States of more banks 
in 1831. This, together with an intimation from the Execu- 
tive that we must have a metallic currency, caused heavy loans 
to be negotiated abroad by the deposit banks, and specie was 
brought into the country from England and elsewhere, when 
it is believed that we were largely indebted to Europe. The 
new banks made large issues of paper, notwithstanding the 
metallic currency ; the prices of everything that is bought 
and sold continued to rise ; and in 1835 and 1836 more banks 
were chartered, and some very large ones, by the States. State 






STATE OF THE COUNTRY IN 1S37. 17 

loans to a great amount were negotiated in Europe; private 
credit was pledged for money abroad to an unexampled extent ; 
bills were drawn on one bank to pay another, till England has 
become surfeited with American securities, both public and pri- 
vate. During the last two or three years the public lands have 
attracted particular attention; between twenty and thirty mil- 
lions of dollars were realized from this source alone, the last 
year. The internal improvements of the country have gone 
forward with astonishing rapidity ; the produce of the soil, 
lands, merchandise, — in fact, everything has increased in value ; 
fortune after fortune has been made without physical or mental 
labor; thousands of persons have left their regular occupations 
to trade in something, and merchants, lawyers, doctors, judges, 
and legislators have joined in the pursuit of wealth. 

General Jackson promised us a better currency when he 
destroyed the Bank, and sternly refused to give us another. 
When that institution was in full operation we had a currency 
equal to any the world ever witnessed ; its notes were at par in 
every part of the United States and in Canada and Nova Scotia. 
Money could be placed in New Orleans by persons residing in 
the Atlantic States at less than the cost of insurance, and there 
was no transporting of specie from one end of the continent to 
the other in common commercial transactions. 

What do we see now ? The public money deposited in 
eighty-six State banks, and an increase of bank capital, since 
General Jackson's veto of the Bank of the United States, of not 
less than two hundred and fifty millions of dollars. It is said 
that the business of the country is increased. We all know there 
is a great increase of population, and consequently of business ; 
but has the legitimate business increased in proportion to the 
increase of bank capital and circulation? Has not the business 
been stimulated and carried far beyond its natural growth by 
the aliment received from this eighty millions of paper? 

We know what our condition was four years ago. Perhaps 
it would be well to inquire what it is now. We have nearly 
one hundred deposit banks (acting without concert), in which 
there must be at this time, to the credit of the Treasurer of the 
United States and the disbursing officers of the Government, 
about fifty millions of dollars. We have an increase of State 
bank paper of eighty millions of dollars, an expansion which 

2 



18 ABBOTT LAWEENCE. 

is unnatural and over which the General Government has no 
control. The inequality of the currency is made manifest by 
the demands of gold and silver in some sections of the 
country for public dues, while in others paper is received in 
payment. We are largely indebted to Great Britain, the 
produce of our country falling in price abroad and at home, 
our exchanges all in disorder, confidence impaired, and a proba- 
bility of considerable shipments of specie to pay the balances 
we owe abroad. The day of contraction has arrived, and a 
revolution is to take place in the business of the country. 
The causes of the great speculations in lands and the overtrading 
in other branches of business may be attributed to the immoder- 
ate expansion of bank notes and the forcing of specie into the 
country contrary to the natural laws that govern trade. It has 
been shown that this increase of bank capital and bank paper 
was produced by the action of the Executive and by legislation. 
The promised currency has never been realized, and that class 
of persons who were assured by General Jackson that they 
should derive important advantages by this new system are to 
be the sufferers. 

There is one class of men who have been and are gathering a 
golden harvest from his experiments upon the currency, viz. the 
money-lenders, — the great capitalists of the country, — the 
persons against whom these measures were principally directed. 
The equality which was to be produced has not taken place. 
On the other hand, human ingenuity could not have devised a 
scheme better calculated to satisfy the appetite of avarice than 
the one now in operation. The labor of the country is even- 
tually to suffer from the determination of the Executive to carry 
into effect this experiment upon the currency. It is the many 
and not the few who are to suffer. Time has revealed to us 
but a small part of the effects of the quackery which has been in- 
flicted upon us by an interference with one of the most difficult 
and delicate subjects that can be touched by the Executive hand. 
We have twenty-six independent sovereignties, all having the 
power to create banks, and those banks have power to issue 
notes uncontrolled by the General Government. How long- 
such a system can or will be continued must be left with the 
people to decide. 

I shall pass with reluctance from this fruitful and interesting 



THE PUBLIC LANDS. 19 

topic to another of general interest, viz. the Public Lands. The 
Land Bill that passed the Senate and was laid on the table in 
the House was by no means acceptable to those who are desir- 
ous of having a distribution of the revenue arising from that 
source among its lawful proprietors. The Bill was partial and 
unjust, and amounted to a surrender of the public domain with 
little prospect of much compensation. The public lands of the 
United States are of immense value, almost beyond computation, 
and belong in common to all the States. They will be a source 
of great revenue annually for a long time to come, and the 
money derived from them should be distributed among the 
States. A plan known by the name of Mr. Clay's Land Bill 
is thought, by persons in all parts of the country who are 
in favor of distributing the proceeds, to be the most judicious 
that has j'et been presented to Congress. This Bill once passed 
both Houses of Congress, but was vetoed by General Jackson. 
The provisions of the Bill are favorable to the new States, and 
such as should be satisfactory to them, unless they expect to ob- 
tain the whole public domain within their borders without com- 
pensation. This Bill will probably come before Congress at its 
next session, and it is to be hoped may become a law. Should 
this be the case, another very important question would be put 
at rest for the present. I refer to the reduction of the duties on 
imports. 

The Bill brought into the House of Representatives the last 
winter by the Committee of Ways and Means is one which is 
expected to be presented again at the next Congress. It pro- 
poses a great and sudden reduction on all imported articles now 
paying a duty of over twenty per cent. Should this Bill become 
a law it would deeply affect all interests in the country, and 
especially those of New England. This is another instance of 
an attempt at legislation for the benefit of the poor and middling 
class of society. Who does not know that it is a direct blow 
struck at the labor of the country ? Where are the workers in 
iron, brass, steel, leather, tin, etc., etc., the hatter and the tailor, 
witli a great many others who are now protected, as the}' had 
supposed, under the faith of this Government? Will the great 
and intelligent mechanic interests of this country agree to the 
surrender of the principle of protection which has been recognized 
by the Federal Government from its foundation ? This is to be a 



20 



ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 



war ostensibly waged against capital and the monopolists, as they 
are courteously called by some of those who are against the system 
of protecting our own labor. Whenever the principle of protec- 
tion is surrendered it will probably be found that the war will 
have been, in effect, against the labor and not the capital of the 
country. A neighboring State Legislature passed sundry reso- 
lutions recommending to Congress to reduce the price of the 
public lands, and also the tariff of duties on imports. The 
justice or policy of such a measure cannot be understood. If 
it arises from a desire to drain the State of its population and 
wealth, no measure that can be thought of would so effectu- 
ally produce that result. It is believed that the policy of this 
Commonwealth does not lie so deep, or perhaps she has less 
patriotism than her neighbor ; at all events, it is a policy full of 
mischief to the industrious people of Massachusetts, and one that 
should be resisted by all constitutional means. The opinions of 
General Jackson on this important question may be found in 
his farewell address to the people of the United States. 

It is to be regretted that the Fortification Bill was lost at the 
last session of Congress. The Bill passed the House three times, 
and the last time by a larger majority than the first. The 
House thought proper to pass another Deposit Act, with the 
same provisions as that passed in June last, to take effect on 
the 1st January next, which was appended to the Fortification 
Bill. The Senate thought proper to reject the Bill, although 
the popular branch of the Legislature by a large majority de- 
cided that the public interest required that the money in the 
Treasury should be placed in the hands of the people, to whom 
it belonged. The immediate representatives of the people 
thought it was not compatible with their duty to their constitu- 
ents to recede from the stand they had assumed. The Senate 
adhered, and with that body should rest the responsibility of 
the loss of the Fortification Bill, with the amendment distribut- 
ing among the States the surplus revenue. There are good 
reasons for supposing it would have passed the Senate but for 
a threatened veto, which was suspended over its members. 

Upon the subject of Executive patronage a word should be 
said in connection with the veto power. A pernicious and dan- 
gerous practice has obtained to a considerable extent of late in 
the appointment of members of Congress by the Executive to 



THE PROPOSED ANNEXATION OF TEXAS. 21 

important and lucrative offices. Several members of the last 
Congress have already been appointed to office, and many more 
will doubtless be rewarded for their party fidelity. If this prac- 
tice continues to prevail, Congress will soon become nothing 
more than a component part of the Executive will. If we intend 
to maintain inviolate the independence of Congress and the lib- 
erties of the people, a remedy must be found for this notorious 
evil. Independence of action cannot be looked for in a House 
of Representatives, a considerable portion of whose members are 
suppliants for offices at the disposal of the President. There is 
no feeling of party in this matter. The spirit of the remark will 
apply to all parties, whoever may be in power, and operate 
through all time. 

There is one other question of so much importance, and which 
is soon to occupy so much of the public mind, that it should be 
brought for a moment before you. Nothing has been presented 
to the consideration of the Free States since the adoption of 
the Federal Constitution that will produce more excitement 
than the proposition to annex the vast territory of Texas to 
this Union. The independence of this infant nation has already 
been recognized by our Government. The next movement of 
the friends of Texas will be its annexation to the United States. 
It is to be a slaveholding country, and comprises territory suffi- 
cient to create six States. There can be little doubt that many 
distinguished persons high in power and influence have a settled 
and abiding purpose to carry this measure. Should their object 
be attained, where will be the patronage and Executive power 
of the Government? Will it not be gone, forever departed, 
from the Free States? Let us maintain the Constitution in 
letter and spirit as we received it from our fathers, and resist 
every attempt at the acquisition of territory to be inhabited by 
slaves. 

Having written much more than I intended, permit me to 
renew my thanks for the honor you have done me by your invi- 
tation, which pressing engagements arising from long absence 
compel me most respectfully to decline. I pray you to accept 
the assurances with which I remain, gentlemen, 

Your friend and grateful servant, 

Abbott Lawkenck. 



22 ABBOTT LAWKENCE. 

We have witnessed within the last few years a con- 
dition of affairs very similar to that described by Mr. 
Lawrence in the first part of this letter ; and when the 
inevitable collapse came in 1837, as it also came in 1873, 
as the result of currency inflation and wild speculation, 
it brought wide-spread disaster and the absolute ruin of 
multitudes, and was followed by months and years of 
depression and stagnation. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE ESSEX COMPANY. — THE RISE OF LAWRENCE. —THE 

PACIFIC MILLS. 

The Messrs. Lawrence came out of the crisis of 1837, 
and the hard times which followed, with capital and credit 
unimpaired; and as the country gradually recovered its 
normal condition of activity and prosperity, their business 
operations increased in magnitude and importance. They 
had now ceased to be importers of foreign fabrics, and 
had become the leading house for the sale of dry goods of 
domestic production. Associated with other enterprising 
men, they saw opportunities before them for the develop- 
ment of New England manufactures upon a broader and 
grander scale than had hitherto been attempted, and they 
were prompt to improve them. 

The rapid waters of the Merrimac, Whittier's " moun- 
tain-born ' river, already made to serve the purposes of 
human industry at many a point in their course towards 
the ocean, were to be arrested yet once again for further 
service before they should reach the sea. The precise 
spot had been determined upon, and a large purchase of 
land had been made provisionally by the Merrimac Water 
Power Association, of which a younger brother of the 
Lawrence family, Mr. Samuel Lawrence, afterwards the 
first president of the Boston Board of Trade, was presi- 
dent and treasurer. 1 In the winter of 1844-45, an act 

1 This gentleman, the last survivor of the Lawrence brothers, died March In 
1880. 



I 

24 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

was asked for, and obtained, from the Massachusetts Legis- 
lature, incorporating the Essex Company. On the morn- 
ing after the final passage of the bill, the gentlemen 
named in it as corporators and their associates assembled 
at the State House in Boston, and were present wh^n 
Governor Briggs attached his signature to it and made it 
law. The same hour they started on an excursion to the 
site of the future city, proceeding by rail to North An- 
dover, and thence by carriages to the Falls. This com- 
pany of business men, upon whose decision and action 
such vast interests depended, consisted of Messrs. Abbott 
Lawrence, William Lawrence, Samuel Lawrence, 1 Francis 
C. Lowell, John A. Lowell, George W. Lyman, Theodore 
Lyman, Nathan Appleton, Patrick T. Jackson, William 
Sturgis, John Nesmith, Jonathan Tyler, James B. Francis, 
and Charles S. Storrow. An account of the day's proceed- 
ings is given in the History of Essex County, recently 
published, which says : — 

" Under the pilotage of Mr. Daniel Saunders, the party were 
shown, not the beauties of a charming landscape ; rather was it 
a question of power, — how much attainable and at what cost ; 
a question of the adaptability of surrounding lands to the 
building of a town, — a matter to be dealt with by men of fore- 
cast, scientific attainments, and practical knowledge of heavy 
manufacturing and engineering operations. At that date these 
fourteen gentlemen were fit representatives of the great interest 
then so lately established, — the manufacture of textile fabrics 
in New England." 

After a careful examination of the neighborhood, and 
the discussion of various plans upon the spot, the party 
drove to Lowell, and sat down to a late dinner at the 

1 At this time, and for many years previously, Mr. Amos Lawrence had been 
obliged, by the failure of his health, to withdraw from active business and to leave 
the direction of affairs to his brother, who had thus become, in fact, the head of 
the house. The partnership did not terminate, however, until the death of Mr. 
Amos Lawrence, on the 81st of December. 1852. 



THE RISE OF LAWRENCE. 25 

Merrimac House. Lord Stowell used to say, " A dinner 
lubricates business;" and in the instance before us we 
have a memorable illustration of the fact. We quote again 
from the History of Essex County : — 

" In that after-dinner hour was taken the first decisive step 
leading to permanent organization and effective work. Mr. 
Abbott Lawrence and Mr. John A. Lowell retired for a few 
minutes' consultation, and, returning, offered the Water Power 
Association, as a fair equivalent for all its acquired rights and 
interest, the sum of $30,000, in addition to the reimbursement 
of all expenses previously incurred ; assuming also to carry out 
all agreements made by the associates for the purchase of lands 
and flowage rights already secured by bond, and to lead off in 
the organization of the Essex Company by large subscriptions 
to its capital stock. ... A proposition so definite, promising 
immediate organization of a powerful company, and commence- 
ment of active operations with efficient leaders, was promptly 
accepted. Thus, on the day the act was signed, before set of 
sun, steps had been taken by parties who harbored no feai of 
failure and took no backward course, which resulted in immedi- 
ate operations as vigorous and unremitting as the inception was 
energetic and novel. The excursionists returned home, hardly 
realizing that a city had been born which would force products 
upon the world's markets, call laborers from among all civilized 
northern races, and work materials supplied from every quarter 
of the globe." 

All this happened on the 20th of March, 1845. Two 
days later the subscription paper of the Essex Company 
was drawn up. Mr. Lawrence was the first and largest 
subscriber, taking one thousand shares at one hundred 
dollars each. This investment of a hundred thousand 
dollars he never disturbed, and the shares, we believe, are 
still held in the family. He took the presidency of the 
company; under his direction contracts were at once 
made, and in the month of July following work was 
commenced. The new town of Lawrence — there could 
be no question as to what its name should be — was 



26 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

incorporated April 17, 1847; the clam was completed 
September 19, 1848 ; and the first cotton arrived Janu- 
ary 12, 1849, consigned to the Atlantic Cotton Mills, of 
which Mr. Lawrence was also president and one of the 
large stockholders. The town became a city, by charter 
granted March 21, 1853. It now has a population of 
about forty thousand, and a taxable valuation of twenty- 
five million dollars. Most justly has it been said : " The 
broad comprehension, unwavering faith, and large capacity 
of Abbott Lawrence should never be forgotten by dwellers 
in the city that bears his name." 

In 1853 the Pacific Mills were incorporated, with a 
capital of two million dollars, and with Mr. Lawrence for 
president. The early history of this corporation was 
marked by difficulties and embarrassments ; but it was in 
energetic and untiring hands, whose efforts would not 
cease until success had been achieved. In this, as in so 
many other instances, Mr. Lawrence showed himself a 
born leader of men, shrinking from no duty, shunning no 
responsibility, asking no one to go where he was not 
ready to go himself. This great corporation now has a 
capital of two and a half millions of dollars and twelve 
mill-buildings, it employs between five and six thousand 
operatives, and it turns out a product of eighty million 
yards annually. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE TARIFF. — OVERTURES FROM VIRGINIA. 

Mr. Lawrence was a man of affairs, but he was much 
more than this. He possessed not only the commercial 
instinct so essential to permanent success in business, 
but also, and what is rarely found in combination with it, 
an insight into the principles which control the course 
and movement of trade. He understood the theory as 
well as the practice of his profession. We have had oc- 
casion to notice his ability to deal with the question of 
finance, and to write upon it, not merely as a sagacious 
business man, but as a thoughtful and well-instructed ob- 
server. He was similarly intelligent upon other subjects 
bearing upon the industry and material prosperity of the 
country ; and on the tariff question particularly he held 
definite and positive convictions, which were the result of 
careful investigation and reflection. Several years before 
his firm had become identified with the manufacturing 
system of New England by its investments at Lowell, and 
while his own interests as an importer might seem to have 
pointed in the opposite direction, he became a protection- 
ist. He was not opposed to foreign commerce and inter- 
national trade ; his own admirable words, in a message to 
a young men's association, were : " Tell them that the 
hand of God has spread out these mighty oceans not to 
separate, but to unite the nations of the earth ; that the 
winds that fill the sail are the breath of Heaven; that 
the various climates of the earth and their different 



28 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

products are designed by Providence to be the foundation 
of a mutually beneficial intercourse between distant re- 
gions." But, at the same time, he desired to encourage 
the broadest practicable diversity in the industries of his 
own country, and to secure for them all alike a balanced 
and stable prosperity. To quote from Mr. Everett, " He 
heard in advance the voice of a hundred streams, now 
running to waste over barren rocks, but destined here- 
after to be brought into accord with the music of the 
water-wheel and the power-loom. He contemplated a 
home consumption, at the farmer's door, for the products 
of his cornfield, his vegetable garden, and his dairy." 

The prominent business men of Boston were slow to 
embrace the doctrines of protection, which were " forced 
upon ' : them, as we shall presently see. When they had 
accepted them as what was supposed to be the fixed 
policy of the nation, and had been successful in the plans 
which they had laid in conformity with them, it is not 
strange that they should have adhered to them strenu- 
ously, even when some of those who at first had been most 
earnest in advocacy of them abandoned their position, and 
sought to reverse the action which they had formerly pro- 
moted. This is fully explained by Mr. Lawrence in one 
of his celebrated letters on the tariff question, addressed 
to the Hon. William C. Rives of Virginia, in 1846, and 
published and widely circulated at the time. 

" We were," said he, " previous to the War of 1812, an agri- 
cultural and navigating people. The American system was 
forced upon us, and was adopted for the purpose of creating a 
home market for the products of the soil of the South and 
West ; we resisted the adoption of a system which, we honestly 
believed, would greatly injure our navigation, and drive us from 
our accustomed employments into a business we did not under- 
stand. We came into it, however, reluctantly, and soon learned 
that with the transfer of our capital we acquired skill and 
knowledge in the use of it, and that, so far from our foreign 






THE TARIFF. 29 

commerce being diminished, it was increased, and that our do- 
mestic tonnage and commerce were very soon more than quad- 
rupled. The illustrations were so striking in every department 
of labor, that those who, fifteen years ago, were the strongest 
opponents of the protective tariff among us have given up their 
theories and acknowledged that the revelations are such as to 
satisfy the most sceptical. We have gone forward steadily, till 
many descriptions of manufactures are as well settled in New 
England as the raising of potatoes. Our experience has given 
us skill, and of course we have confidence in our own resources 
that does not exist elsewhere." 

Mr. Webster had spoken similarly in the Senate of the 
United States, during the debate on the tariff, in 1828, 
when he said : — 

"The opinion of New England up to 1824 was founded in 
the conviction that on the whole it was wisest and best, both 
for herself and others, that manufactures should make haste 
slowly. She felt a reluctance to trust great interests on the 
foundation of Government patronage. But the Act of 1824 
settled the policy of the country. What then was New Eng- 
land to do ? Was she longer to resist what she could no longer 
prevent ; or, seeing the policy of the Government thus settled 
and fixed, to accommodate to it, as well as she could, her own 
pursuits and her own industry ? " 

During the agitation of the tariff question in 1827, the 
Pennsylvania Society for the Promotion of Manufactures 
and the Mechanic Arts issued a call for a National Conven- 
tion, to assemble at the Capitol in Harrisburg on the 30th 
of July of that year. A meeting was held in Boston, at 
which the Governor, the Hon. Levi Lincoln, presided, and 
Mr. Lawrence, with six others, was chosen to represent 
Massachusetts. Mr. Everett also received an appointment, 
but for some reason did not accept. At this meeting 
a resolution was passed, referring in conciliatory terms 
to the prevailing sentiment at the South upon the ques- 
tion at issue, but insisting that the continued prosperity 



30 ABBOTT LAWEENCE. 

of the country depended largely upon the maintenance of 
the protective policy. Among others who were prominent 
in the Harrisburg Convention were Messrs. Gideon Welles 
and Thomas S. Perkins of Connecticut, Hezekiah Niles 
of Maryland, Francis Granger and Richard Keese of 
New York, Ezekiel Webster of New Hampshire, Thomas 
Ewing of Ohio, and Charles J. Ingersoll, Matthew Carey, 
Walter Forward, and Robert Patterson 1 of Pennsylvania. 
Mr. Joseph Ritner, of the last-named State and soon after 
its Governor, was president ; Mr. Lawrence was a member 
of the Committee on Printed Cottons. His associates 
desired to insist upon a minimum duty of forty cents a 
square yard; but he, always moderate in his views and 
judicious in his utterances, thought it better not to com- 
mit the Convention positively to particular rates, but to 
make general recommendations. He therefore introduced 
the following resolution, which was adopted : — 

" That it be respectfully submitted to the consideration of 
Congress to impose adequate duties for the protection of printed 
and other cottons, by increasing the present minimum or square- 
yard duty." 

The Convention appointed a committee to prepare an 
address, embodying and enforcing the conclusions which 
had been reached by it. This address was written, we 
believe, by Mr. Niles, who had been one of the most active 
promoters of the meeting, and was the occasion of earnest 
controversy, which extended to all parts of the country, 
and was carried on upon both sides with much warmth 
of feeling;. In 1831 a Free Trade Convention was held 



1 The record says Joseph Patterson, but General Robert Patterson is the person 
intended. This venerable gentleman, who for many years was the sole survivor of 
the Convention, refers, in a note which lies before us, dated January 20, 1880, to 
Mr. Lawrence's prominent and useful participation in the proceedings, and speaks 
of the friendship with him then formed, which lasted until his death. In a conver- 
sation which the author had with General Patterson in Philadelphia, in the winter 
of 1880-81, a few months before his death, he spoke of Mr. Lawrence with tbe 
warmest appreciation. 



THE COMPEOMISE MEASURES. 31 

in Philadelphia, over which Mr. John Austin Stevens of 
New York presided, and of which Mr. Gallatin was one 
of the most prominent members. 

The tariff law of 1828, and the amendment to it of 
1832, led to the Nullification Ordinance of South Carolina 
in 1833, and this in turn to the Compromise Measures of 
Mr. Clay in the same year. The sentiment of Massachu- 
setts was at first very hostile to these measures, and Mr. 
Webster 1 and the entire congressional delegation voted 
against them. A letter written from Boston to Mr. Clay, 
March 19, 1833, by Mr. Peleg Sprague, then a Senator from 
the State of Maine, shows what the general feeling had 
been, and how it had been modified, as Mr. Clay's motives 
and course of action had come to be better understood : — 

" It affords me the highest gratification to be able to assure 
3011 that public sentiment here has wonderfully changed in 
favor of vour great measure, since its introduction. It is now 
popular, and becoming more and more so as it becomes better 
understood, as the real condition of the country and the views 
and opinions of the Administration are more known, and as the 
Bill itself and your course previous to its being offered in the 
Senate are explained. In New York I scarcely found an indi- 
vidual who did not approve it. In Providence and in Boston 
there is yet some diversity of opinion among the politicians, but, 

1 Mr. Webster, in his celebrated Faneuil Hall speech, delivered in the autumn 
of 1842, thus referred to the Compromise Act . " No measure ever passed Congress 
during my connection with that body that caused me so much grief and mortifica- 
tion. It was passed by a few friends joining the whole host of the enemy. . . . 
It was then pressed through under the great emergency of the public necessi- 
ties. But I may now recur to what I then said, namely, that its principle was 
false and dangerous, and that when its time came, it would rack and convulse 
our system. I said we should not get rid of it without throes and spasms. Bas 
not tins been as predicted * We have felt the spasms and throes of this convul- 
sion ; but we have at last gone through them, and begin to breathe again. I 
something that that act is at last got rid of; and the present tariff is deserving in 
this, that it is specific and discriminating, that it holds to common sense, and 
rejects and discards the principles of the Compromise Act, I hope, forever." 

It should be remembered that this entire speech was a severe arraignment ,.t 
the rival statesman of Kentucky, and of those who were then supporting his nomi- 
nation for the Presidency. We shall have occasion to refer to it again. 



32 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

so far as I learn, none among the actual business men engaged 
in manufactures. I have seen several of the principal and most 
intelligent ; they are only apprehensive that it will not be per- 
manent, that it will be again put afloat. They say that they do 
not think fit to come out publicly in favor of the measure, 
because it might create uneasiness in the South, and generate 
a disposition to make further demands, and because it would 
carry a censure upon their delegation in Congress. I have 
seen and conversed with many of the principal men, and was 
at first surprised that there was so much of error and mis- 
apprehension in nearly all in relation to the Bill. I yesterday 
spent nearly an hour in conversation upon this subject with 
the Governor [Levi Lincoln], most of the members of his 
Council being present, and I also have conversed with the 
Lieutenant-Governor [Samuel T. Armstrong], the Speaker of 
the House of Representatives [William B. Calhoun], several 
members of the Senate, and many members of the House, with 
Crowninshield and D wight, formerly members of Congress, 
with both the Everetts, President Quincy, the Lawrences, and 
many other merchants and manufacturers, whose names are un- 
known to you ; and I cannot doubt from their representations 
that the Bill is now considered a good one, and will be extremely 
popular when fully understood. Indeed, I am entirely mistaken 
if in six months it be not considered in New England as the 
most wise, patriotic, beneficent, and splendid act of legislation 
that any individual in this country has ever achieved." 

Mr. Lawrence himself wrote to Mr. Clay a few days 
later (March 26, 1833), on the same subject, as follows : — 

" I have great pleasure in acknowledging the receipt of your 
letter of the 13th inst., with your speech upon the Tariff Bill. 

" Your letter gave me individually, inexpressible pleasure, as 
it has placed in my power the means of satisfying the minds of 
many prominent citizens among us, who had supposed the whole 
scheme was brought forward without the knowledge of your 
friends. I have given the letter free circulation, where it has 
been required to remove any prejudices that might have existed; 
and I have a general response from all that they are entirely 
satisfied with the purity of your motives, as well as your en- 






THE TARIFF. ;];; 

lightened patriotism. The newspaper press is now silent here 
upon the subject, and will remain so. 1 know the editors well, 
and have taken pains to place the whole subject upon true 
ground. I had, as you know, strong objections to any conces- 
sions whatever; yet I am now well satisfied with the course the 
whole subject took in Congress; so are the people of this State, 
and of New England. Our interests have been greatly pro- 
moted by it, and it is hoped and believed that time will prove to 
us that it was the dictate of wisdom to have adopted the Bill 
proposed by you, and carried by your influence. I do not think 
there is the least unkind feeling toward you in New England, 
and I do not take, I think, too much upon myself, when T say 
you were never more popular than at the present moment. I 
look for a great change in public sentiment upon the American 
system, before the end of nine years, or even five years. It' the 
system of internal improvements could go on for a few years 
with vigor, there is not a doubt upon my mind that this Union 
would be bound by ties stronger than all the constitutions that 
human wisdom could devise. A railroad from New England to 
Georgia would do more to harmonize the feelings of the whole 
country than any amendments to the Constitution that can be 
offered or adopted. It is intercourse we want, and what I 
desire. Your Land Bill is' a great favorite here, and receives 
the hearty support of all parties, with the exception of some 
few office-holders." 

The next general tariff act was that of August 30, 1842, 
and Mr. Lawrence participated actively in the discussion^ 
which preceded and prepared the way for it, He made 
a speech at a convention of shoe and leather dealers in 
the Marlborough Chapel, Boston, on the 2nd of March, 
1842, in favor of discriminating and specific duties 
which, although unpremeditated and given off-hand, was 
considered worthy of publication. 

In 1846, under President Polk's administration, the 
legislation of 1842 was reversed. On the 3rd of December, 
1845, Mr. Robert J. Walker, as Secretary of the Treasury, 
sent his first report to Congress, in which he took strong 
ground against all minimums and all specific duties, and 



34 



ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 



recommended twenty per cent ad valorem as the rate 
which as a general rule would yield the largest revenue. 
On the appearance of this report Mr. Lawrence wrote 
the three letters to Mr. Rives, from one of which we 
have already quoted, in which he argued calmly and 
dispassionately against the various positions taken by the 
Secretary. He was strenuous in his advocacy of specific 
as against ad valorem duties ; and it should be said that 
in this particular Mr. Gallatin and other leading sup- 
porters of a revenue tariff system were in accord with 
him. We now' know that Mr. Walker was prepared, in 
the interest of peace, and in order to the attainment, if 
possible, of stability and permanent security in the tariff 
legislation of the country, to meet the protectionist party 
in a spirit of mutual concession ; but his advances were 
not reciprocated. Perhaps, if he had had Massachusetts 
alone to deal with, he would have been more successful ; 
for Mr. Lawrence, writing to Mr. Appleton on the 4th of 
August, 1846, only three or four days after the President 
attached his signature to the tariff bill, said : — 

" The Whigs should be moderate, and not commit themselves 
to the tariff of '42 or nothing. We can afford to yield something 
to the prejudices of the people, and I am 'ready for a new bill 
with discrimination and specific duties at lower rates than those 
of '42." 

The letters to Mr. Rives attracted much attention in all 
parts of the country, and especially in Virginia, where they 
were reproduced and commented upon at length in the 
leading newspapers. So deep was the impression made in 
that State by them, and such a spirit of enterprise did they 
enkindle, that some of the leading citizens invited Mr. Law- 
rence to come and establish a manufacturing town at the 
Great Falls of the Potomac. The following letter, dated 
" Richmond, January 30, 1846," and signed by forty-three 
prominent persons, most of them members of the Virginia 
Legislature, was sent to him : — 






OVERTURES FROM VIRGINIA. 

" We, the members of both political parties in the Legislature 
of Virginia, and others, having heard through James M. Crane, 
Esq., that you and he had had repeated conversations together 
about commencing a manufacturing town at the Great Falls of 
the Potomac, in the county of Fairfax in this State, take gnat 
pleasure in recommending the subject to your consideration, and 
inviting your co-operation in the same. 

" We believe that the spirit of improvement is abroad in the 
State, and that our people only want some master-mind to give 
confidence, to draw forth their strength, energy, and capital in 
this highly important branch of home industry. The commence- 
ment of a manufacturing town in the Old Dominion, and near 
the capital of the American Union, would produce a powerful 
impulse in all the Southern States, and lead perhaps to results 
of vast importance to the whole countiy. 

" Your high moral, intelligent, practical, and business char- 
acter eminently befits you for such an undertaking. Your name 
and character are well known to us and the whole South ; and 
should you lead off in this noble work, it would, besides being 
a monument to your fame, also unite the North and South more 
closely and harmoniously together in their onward progress to 
equal rewards and a common destiny. 

" We look to New England's noble, intelligent, and enter- 
prising sons and daughters to aid us to rear those industrial 
and truly national monuments of labor in the ' Sunny South,' 
which now add so much to the energy, sagacity, and wealth of 
our Eastern brethren. Their fame has spread over the whole 
sphere we inhabit, and we hope will continue to spread while 
the world shall survive, and our own beloved country may hold 
a place among the powers of the earth. 

" The regions above the Great Falls abound in coal, iron, and 
other minerals. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal passes imme- 
diately by it, bringing you within two hours' travel to Washing- 
ton, Georgetown, and Alexandria. There is a great deal of 
capital around in the counties of Loudoun, Fairfax, and the 
cities near by, which would be invested in manufacturing if 
confidence was once created. 

" Wishing sincerely that our request may meet your approba- 
tion, we take great pleasure in subscribing ourselves, dear sir, 

" Your obedient servants." 



36 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

This invitation was transmitted through the Hon. 
William S. Archer, one of the United States Senators from 
Virginia, who earnestly pressed it upon Mr. Lawrence's 
attention in a letter from which the following is an 
extract : — 

" What we want in Virginia is the establishment of one con- 
siderable work of manufacture under auspices which may, by 
diffusing confidence, awaken, first, attention, and then the 
development of our own resources of capital, now held back 
from a just distrust of the qualifications of Southern men to 
bring to use the vigilance and economical methods in expendi- 
ture which have given a character, name, and trust, as regards 
your people, which none others can pretend to. Should you 
lend yourself to our views in this respect, the good you will 
have achieved will not be confined to a money form. This will 
be the least considerable form of your benefit. That to which 
I should look most would be the gradual change in the habits 
of our people, — the humble classes more especially, — by the 
infusion of the practice and temper of your people. There is 
no form or sum of good which man can render to his fellow- 
men so signal as by winning them to habits of regular and sys- 
tematic industry, from lethargy, loafing, and dissoluteness." 

This appeal, on the part of a sister State, for co-opera- 
tion and leadership in the development of its industry 
and capital, was a remarkable recognition of, and tribute 
to, the ability and character of Mr. Lawrence ; and, with 
the consciousness of power and personal resources which 
he must have possessed, and which all great men feel, the 
temptation to accede to the flattering proposal, so urgently 
pressed upon him, must have been very strong. But the 
new undertaking on the banks of the Merrimac was still in 
its infancy ; the great dam had not yet been carried across 
the stream, and the foundations of the various mill struc- 
tures had only just been laid. Vast interests were at 
stake nearer home, and heavy responsibilities had been 
incurred, which would require all his care. He could 



OVERTURES FROM VIRGINIA. 37 

not allow himself to be diverted from this work by the 
projected enterprise on the shores of the Potomac, no 
matter how alluring the promise of results both to himself 
and to others. It were idle, perhaps, to speculate as to 
what might have been the consequences had the decision 
of Mr. Lawrence been in the affirmative instead of the 
negative. Unquestionably, if New England energy, in- 
dustry, and thrift could then have taken root in Virginia, 
an example would have been set there, the influence of 
which, upon the other States of the South, would have 
affected directly and indirectly the whole country. Nor 
does it seem improbable that, with the development and 
growth of manufactures among the people of the South, 
the friendly relations between the two sections of the 
country, stimulated and fostered by mutual interests and 
a common policy, might never have been broken. 

Mr. Helper, in his " Impending Crisis," relates that in 
1836 or 1837 Mr. Lawrence visited Richmond with well- 
matured plans for the improvement of the water-power of 
the James, and for the investment of a large amount of 
money, in behalf of himself, his brother Amos, and other 
capitalists, but that he was literally driven from the 
accomplishment of his purposes by the proslavery sen- 
timent of the community, excited, particularly, by the 
bitter and persistent attacks of the "Richmond Enquirer." 
All this must be a mistake. The statements just given 
are correct ; and it is to the last degree improbable that 
Mi\ Helper's narrative is true also. 



CHAPTER VI. 

WATER SUPPLY FOR BOSTON. — THE CITIZEN SOLDIERY 

Mr. Lawrence's sympathies and energies were much 
wider in their scope and operation than the domain of 
trade and commerce. He was constantly mindful of his 
responsibilities as a citizen of Boston, of Massachusetts, of 
the United States, — to his city, to his State, and to his 
country, — and he was never appealed to in vain for co- 
operation in behalf of measures looking to the public 
good, whether local or more national in their relations. 
He had all the necessary qualifications for leadershii), in 
the public meeting as well as upon the Exchange ; and 
here, as elsewhere, he made good use of his powers. We 
have a noteworthy illustration of this in the ardor with 
which he threw himself into the movement for supplying 
the city of Boston with an abundance of pure water. It 
would be difficult to understand now how there could have 
been two sides to this question, did we not remember that 
every great work of improvement and reform has to be 
carried, in the face of opposition, by the courage, deter- 
mination, and persistency of its supporters. Some were 
personally interested in private water companies, either 
established or projected, and insisted that there was water 
enough and to spare ; others protested against the ex- 
pense of the proposed additional supply, and argued that 
it would lead to a debt which would be a perpetual 
mortgage upon the real property of the citizens ; others, 
again, urged that it would be anti-democratic for the 



WATER SUPPLY FOR BOSTON. 39 

municipality to undertake a work which could be carried 
on much better by private enterprise. There was a dif- 
ference of opinion, also, as to the source of supply. Mr. 
John H. Wilkins, afterward a member of the Cochituate 
Water Board, and for four years its Chairman, printed 
a pamphlet favoring the taking of water from Charles 
River. He said : " Charles River is just as naturally the 
source of supply for Boston as the Schuylkill is for Phil- 
adelphia." The elder Quincy took the same view, and 
declared his preference for a running stream to a pond 
for supplying a city with water. Some were for taking 
water from Spot Pond ; others, and the majority, gave 
the preference to Long Pond, now known as Lake 
Cochituate. 

One consideration, urged by the friends of the Middle- 
sex Canal, against drawing the proposed water supply 
from Long Pond, is interesting, as showing the estimation 
in which that work was held by some, even as late as 
1845. In this year a remonstrance was addressed to the 
Legislature, which has been preserved in pamphlet form, 
but without the name of its author. It says : — 

" Another class of sufferers ought not to be omitted. I refer 
to the boatmen and laborers on the Middlesex Canal. ... It 
is only during about seven months of the year that the canal 
is open. The whole business of the year must be done in that 
period, and it is during these months that the waters of Long 
Pond are most essential to the prosperity of the canal. . . . 

" At one period the business on this canal was small, and 
the property conceded to be of no great value. But it after- 
wards revived ; and last year its earnings were stated by the 
agent before your Committee to be $9,000, and the prosper 
were fair for an increase hereafter." 1 

In the summer of 1844 a Committee of the City 
Council was appointed " to consider and report what 
measures, if any, should be adopted to procure an abun- 

1 The act incorporating the Middlesex Canal Company was passed in 179H. 
The work was completed in 1803; traffic upon it finally ceased in 1853; and thi 
charter was annulled in 1859. 



40 ABBOTT LAWKENCE. 

dant supply of pure, soft water for the use of the city." 
This Committee reported, on the 22nd of August, that " in 
their opinion the time has arrived when it is both expe- 
dient and necessary that pure water should be introduced 
into the city." It also recommended the appointment of 
a commission to examine and report upon the various 
sources of water supply which had been suggested. The 
Commissioners were Patrick T. Jackson, Nathan Hale, and 
James F. Baldwin. During the autumn several meet- 
ings were held in Faneuil Hall, at which the Mayor, Mr. 
Martin Brimmer, presided, and various public-spirited 
citizens spoke. At the last of these meetings (November 
26) Mr. Lawrence made some remarks which were not 
reported at length in the papers, but it is said of them 
that they were earnest and eloquent, and that it was 
clear Mr. Lawrence's heart was in what he said, and that 
he had made himself thoroughly acquainted with the sub- 
ject by deep thought and frequent conference with prac- 
tical men. " One class, and one class only," said Mr. 
Lawrence, " was to have this great blessing without money 
and without price, and that class was the poor. Yes, the 
poor should have the water free, and they only." The 
meeting responded to this in a most audible manner, 
we are told, and manifested the warmest sympathy with 
all his expressions of interest in the subject. The other 
speakers were John C. Gray, Edward Brooks, Thomas 
B. Curtis, and Henry Williams. 

The Legislature passed an act (March 25, 1845) author- 
izing the city to take water either from Long Pond or 
Charles River ; this was to be submitted to a popular 
vote for acceptance or rejection, and everything possible 
was said and done to create prejudice and hostility against 
it. 1 The friends of the measure were equally active. 

1 Mr. James M. Bugbee suggests that the opposition to the act was chiefly 
because of the extraordinary powers given to the three Water Commissioners, who 
were to be appointed as agents of the City Council. — Mem. Hist, of Boston, 
Vol. III. p. 250. Mr. Lawrence refers to this objection in his speech. 



REPORT ON WATER SUPPLY. 41 

and meetings were held by them, at which spirited ad- 
dresses were given, and much enthusiasm was manifested. 
On the 8th of May a committee appointed at a pre- 
vious meeting presented a report in which the pending 
issue was clearly and forcibly defined. " You must 
choose," it was said to the citizens, " between the waters 
of Long Pond or Charles River to be brought by the city, 
on the one hand, or the chance of having those of Spot 
Pond to be brought by a private company, on the other." 
The closing paragraph was as follows : — 

" And now, fellow-citizens, we leave the question in your 
hands with this simple request, that every man who has until 
now been from conviction a consistent and unwavering friend of 
the water project will ask himself what good reason has been 
given why he should abandon the cause, turn his back upon those 
who have faithfully and zealously labored in its behalf, and throw 
away the boon he has been so long contending for, when it is 
for the first time within his reach. We beg each one of you to 
look at the question calmly, by the light of your own judgment, 
and not through the medium of the prejudices of others, and 
then give your votes according to your honest convictions. 
This is all we ask, being fully persuaded that should this course 
be adopted, the question will be settled by a vote which will 
set at rest the great question, namely: Shall or shall not the 
inhabitants of Boston enjoy, as their own property and under 
their own control, an ample and perpetual supply of pure, soft, 
and wholesome water?" 

This report was signed by Thomas B. Curtis, George 
Darracott, Martin Brimmer, Edward Brooks, John C. Gray, 
Abbott Lawrence, and Loring Norcross. After its pres- 
entation, speeches were made by Mr. Thomas A. Davis 
(the Mayor), Dr. Walter Channing, and Mr. Lawrence. 
Mr. Brimmer presided, and had previously spoken. Mr. 
Lawrence's speech on this occasion was one of his most 
characteristic efforts ; it well illustrates the prudence and 
practical sense in combination with breadth and boldness 
with which he w r as accustomed to deal with great ques- 
tions. He said : — 



42 ABBOTT LAWKENCE. 

" I had hoped, sir, that the discussion of the water question 
was settled last autumn in this hall, and that I should have been 
spared the necessity of ever coming before my fellow-citizens to 
discuss it further. I am here to-night, first, because I feel a 
deep interest in this subject, and, secondly, because I have been 
requested by a considerable number of my fellow-citizens to say 
a word upon this occasion. 

" I had supposed that after the full discussion of the matter not 
only last year, but at different periods for twenty years, it would 
not have required my voice, or that of any other man, to satisfy 
the people of this city that it was necessary and right, and 
their duty, to bring into it a copious supply of fresh and pure 
water. In that supposition I have been disappointed, but per- 
haps I ought not to have been surprised that there should be a 
diversity of opinion and sentiment on a question like this. I 
find that there are several classes of opponents. There are, 
first, those who are opposed to bringing in water at all ; next, 
those who are in favor of bringing it from Spot Pond, or Nepon- 
set River, or Jamaica Pond, or any other place which is not 
that designated in the bill. 

" I do not propose to go into the details of this question. 
They have been too fully and too ably discussed elsewhere. Nor 
shall I speak of the necessity of introducing water. After the 
exposition just now made by the late Mayor of the city, of its 
wants in that respect, that would be entirely supererogatory. 
Nor need I enter upon an analysis of the Bill, after the remarks 
of Mr. Brooks and Mr. Gray last evening. But I do propose, 
and I am here merely to express my own opinions upon the sub- 
ject, and to press and to impress upon my fellow-citizens my 
feelings and views of this necessity. We are very particular 
and exact as to the food we take. We are particular to have 
good bread, the best of animal and vegetable food, good cover- 
ings to our bodies ; we are very exact in all these matters, but 
as to this great necessity, the want of pure water, we seem to 
be utterly reckless both as to quality and quantity. 

" What is the question, sir ? It is no other than this : Are 
you ready to put your hands in your pockets, and by being 
taxed a very small amount, to furnish this absolute necessity to 
yourselves? I look upon it as a mere matter of dollars and 
cents, — a mere question of money. It is the expense that pro- 



SPEECH ON WATER SUPPL5T. 43 

duces the whole opposition. I find no fault with those who 
differ from me in opinion. Everybody has a right to his own 
opinion, and I am in all cases a friend to free discussion. But I 
have my own opinion on this subject, and I am here to express 
it. I have many personal and intimate friends who are opposed 
to this measure, but I have been for water from the commence- 
ment, and I am for water now. 

" I do not anticipate that I shall say anything new upon this 
matter, and I may repeat what I have said myself on former 
occasions here. If my arguments were sound when I used 
them last, they are sound now. I have examined this Bill with 
no small care. I have looked at the wants of the community in 
every phase in which I could see them, and I am in favor of 
the measure, first, on the score of health ; second, on the score 
of economy and convenience ; third, on the score of security 
against fire ; and, fourth, because I hold it to be the duty of the 
rich man to furnish the poor man with the water that he cannot 
furnish himself. 

"I am daily assailed by friends who sa}-, 'I am surprised 
that you are willing, to run the city in debt for this Utopian 
scheme.' But what is it? The Commissioners' Report states 
the expense at about two million and a half of dollars. I do not 
undertake to sav whether this is right within a hundred thou- 
sand or half a million dollars. But what is that compared with 
the object? I do know, from the evidence before the Com- 
mittee of the Legislature, that the opponents agree as to about 
one half the expense, that for distribution in the city and some 
other points. The only difference is about the aqueduct itself, 
from Long Pond to the borders of the city. Let us suppose, 
however, that it will cost three or four millions of dollars. On 
this amount the annual interest at five per cent will be a hun- 
dred and fifty or two hundred thousand dollars. The amoum 
of city tax now collected is between seven hundred and eight 
hundred thousand dollars. If there is not a cent of return from 
the water-works, the only difference will be that instead of being 
taxed sixty cents on a hundred dollars, if the works cost two 
and a half millions, we shall be taxed sixty-eight or sev- 
enty cents ; if the works cost three millions, we shall be taxed 
seventy or seventy-two cents (I do not go into an exact calcu- 
lation) ; if they cost four millions, with an interest of two hnn- 



44 



ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 



dred thousand, we shall be taxed eighty-five cents. Put it in 
the worst possible form, what is the difference ? Would there 
be anything very distressing in being taxed ten or fifteen 
per cent more than we are now for such an object, when we 
should then be less taxed than most cities in this country ? 

" But let us look on the other side for a moment. An 
eminent president of an insurance company in this city, Mr. 
Cartwright, estimates the combustible propert}^ here at one hun- 
dred millions of dollars, and the average rate of insurance on 
this is forty cents on one hundred dollars. The best judges in 
these matters are of opinion that these rates would fall to thirty 
cents immediately on the construction of a work like that pro- 
posed. There } r ou have a hundred thousand dollars a year, 
clear gain, to start with. Again, the city now owns six million 
feet of land on the Neck which has no water and no means of 
providing water. At present prices it is worth four or five 
millions. Is it too much to say that the increased value of this 
land, were it provided with water, would be a million dollars ? 
The interest on this is fifty thousand dollars a ye&v ; and here 
there are a hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year towards 
this interest. Then there are the large appropriations for these 
miserable reservoirs (better than nothing, I confess), which, 
with the repairs, may be placed at twenty thousand dollars 
a year. This would make a hundred and seventy thousand 
dollars. Then there is a saving to the shipping interest of 
fifteen or twenty thousand dollars a year for water. And this 
will give you nearly the interest on the largest sum which the 
objectors suggest that the work will cost. The saving to the 
city itself by these universal advantages will create a sum suf- 
ficient, calculating the interest at five per cent on both sides of 
the account, to meet the highest estimate of expense. 

" But this is not all. We have a taxable property in real estate 
of seventy or eighty millions of dollars. I may not be accurate as 
to the precise amount, but it does not matter. What will be the 
increased value of this from the introduction of water? It is 
my opinion that the increased value will be much more than the 
whole cost of the works. I go further, as a holder of real 
property, — not dwelling-houses into which the water may be in- 
troduced (I own but one, and that I live in ; very well supplied 
with water, too, gentlemen), — and I had rather have a dry tax 



WATER A NECESSITY. 45 

laid upon my property for its share of the whole cost of the works 
than not to have the water brought in. And I say this merely 
as a matter of dollars and cents. I say too, gentlemen, that 
they are making a great mistake, as business men, in opposing 
this project, and I think that they will be makers of money, in- 
stead of losers, by bringing in this water. 

" There are some other considerations. In a city like this, 
of ample means, it is a matter of duty and conscience, of hu- 
manity and patriotism, which a devotion to the public welfare 
demands of every citizen, of all men of all kinds, to make 
this provision for the wants of the whole community. We 
have no excuse to withhold this provision from those less fa- 
vored than ourselves. What is the difference between with- 
holding water and withholding bread? Here is a man who 
says he has a good cistern and a sufficient supply of water. 
His neighbor has no water, and you ask him what he will do 
with him. He says, Let him take care of himself. But if 
you had told him that this neighbor had no bread, he would 
feel it his duty to put his hand into his pocket at once and 
buy him a loaf. But what is the difference between the two 
cases? Humanity, patriotism, and honor require that we 
should provide pure and wholesome water for the whole com- 
munity, and abundance of it. I want every man to pay for it 
who can afford to pay. I want to have it brought in by the 
city, and that every man shall pay who can afford to pay; and 
whoever cannot afford to pay, I want him to have it without 
money and without price. 

" I have heard it said, and I have been told over and over 
again, that this would be a perpetual mortgage on our estates. 
I have been asked, Are you willing to mortgage your property 
for this purpose? I say yes, as I would for any other object of 
necessity. Every city debt is a mortgage on our property. So 
is your salary, Mr. Mayor, and that of every other city officer. 
So are the expenses of our sewers, drains, and streets. Every 
tax of necessity is liable to the same objection ; for the services 
are paid for before the money is received. Take the ease of our 
Almshouse in South Boston. We do not hesitate to provide 
the poor, who are obliged to live there, with proper bread and 
food. What is the difference? Are not bread and water the 
same thing? And is not our tax of seven hundred and lil'tv 



46 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

thousand dollars for these paupers a mortgage ? Therefore I say- 
that I am willing that my property shall be mortgaged for this 
purpose. 

" I will just allude, sir, to some of the objections to this Bill. 
Some say that we have water enough to provide against fires 
and everything else. This objection has been pretty satisfac- 
torily answered. Others say that the Bill is anti-democratic. I 
confess that there are some things in it which might be changed. 
With regard to the choice of Commissioners it involves a conflict 
of power. It requires a joint vote of the Mayor, Aldermen, and 
Common Council. This ought not to be so. It ought to be 
amended, and it may be so. But will you throw away this 
great boon for which you have been looking so long, for these 
small details? The main thing, however, appears to be that 
the Commissioners cannot be removed without a vote of two 
thirds of the whole City Council, and that they are to be paid 
an enormous sum, not less than three thousand dollars, for their 
services. I hope I shall be excused if I say a few words about 
this matter of salaries. You all desire that if this work is to be 
done at all, it shall be done well. This cannot be done without 
you employ men of integrity, science, and skill. How are you 
to obtain these men? Do you expect to obtain men who have 
spent their lives in the acquisition of scientific knowledge, for a 
salary for a few years of ten or fifteen hundred dollars, which 
they must then give up ? I will tell you what my experience 
has been. I have done many things in my time, expended a 
great deal of money on buildings, machinery, canals, railroads, 
and such things. I cannot do these things myself: the first 
thins then that I have to do is to find a man in whom I can 
place confidence, — a man of honesty, energy, and skill ; and I 
found long ago that if I wanted such a man I must pay for 
him. I cannot get a good mechanic to do a job without I pay 
for him. What is the fact with regard to these engineers ? Why, 
a man to whom I have no doubt the city looked as one who 
might well be placed at the head of this work has been taken 
up within these three weeks at a salary of five thousand dollars 
a y eari — a permanent salary. Then there was Major Whistler, 
of the Engineer Corps, who was engaged in the Western Rail- 
road, — a man of skill, integrity, and honor. I have no doubt he 
might have obtained many thousands a year for works of this 



PROVISIONS OF THE ACT. 47 

kind in this country ; but his fame became known, and the Em- 
peror of Russia, through his Minister here, has engaged him to 
build the road between Petersburg and Moscow, four or five 
hundred miles, a very difficult work, for ten or twelve thou- 
sand dollars a year. I ask you, Mr. Chairman, do you expect 
to obtain these men at small salaries? If you do, you will be 
disappointed. They can't be found for a small sum. 

" Then as to the mode of appropriation. The Bill has laid 
out that; and the conservative part of it, that the Commis- 
sioners cannot be turned out except for misconduct, is a very 
good feature of it. It has been objected to ; but if I had the 
work in my own hands I should not wish to alter it. It is said 
to be anti-democratic ! It would not be anti-democratic for a 
private company to bring in the water and to charge what they 
please for it. Is it anti-democratic to have hydrants in the 
streets without charge? That is in the Bill. But all this it is 
hardly worth while to go into. It is all clap-trap, worth noth- 
ing beyond the hope of defeating the Bill. 

kt Then as to the place from which the water is to be brought. 
We get from the Bill the designation of two places, — Long 
Pond and Charles River. I am willing for the constituted au- 
thorities to say which of these it shall come from. I shall be 
satisfied with their decision, and so I believe will you. It is 
left with them by the Bill, and they are abundantly able to 
decide. 

" The next objection is that the water should be brought in 
by a private corporation. Now I have some experience about 
this. In 1835 several gentlemen felt that there was much want 
of water in the city, and this too was when the population was 
less and the suffering of the people vastly less. They thought it 
best to make the attempt to relieve this want by private means. 
They applied to the City" Government for leave to do this, and 
they applied for an exclusive charter. The City Government, 
replied — very properly, as I think — that they ought not to 
grant this; that the city ought to have the control of this 
matter ; that it could not give an exclusive charter ; that it 
would charter ten companies if they were called for. Yen 
know that no prudent men could undertake this without the 
exclusive privilege ; for other companies would be formed, or at 
last the city would rise up in its might and bring in the wain- 



48 ABBOTT LAWKENCE. 

for itself at its own expense. Now what is the chance that the 
Spot Pond Corporation will do anything? Their subscription 
paper has been in circulation, to my knowledge, twelve or eigh- 
teen months. They call it a corporation. Well, how do they 
get on? There are several individuals in the city, large hold- 
ers of real property, who are against bringing in water from any 
source. These gentlemen have subscribed ; and, as I saw myself, 
one gentleman, who is taxed on two hundred thousand dollars, 
has put down the enormous sum of one thousand dollars. What 
is his confidence in the plan ? In the first place, this corporation 
will not supply the whole city. What will the rest do ? Why, 
as they did in Baltimore : other companies will be established ; 
the city will be imperfectly supplied until the mass of the 
people themselves rise, until " the ground tier is started," and 
the city takes the matter in hand. The largest subscription 
to this corporation is ten thousand dollars, and that by a gentle- 
man who is taxed for six hundred thousand. I have told him 
that the stock cannot be all taken up unless he and its other 
supporters take fifty thousand each. They cannot expect this 
to be done by men who are not rich. The great mechanic 
interest will not invest in this : they have other means of invest- 
ing their money. This must be done by the capital of the 
town ; but the capital of the town is not going into a private 
corporation. The only way in which this water will be brought 
in is at the city's expense, as it ought to be brought in. 

" I feel a deep interest in this matter ; not a private interest, 
except as every one has a private interest in it. I own no land 
to be benefited by it ; my property is all covered with buildings ; 
my real estate will be benefited in common with others ; but all 
who own land will be benefited. And I repeat that the large 
owners of land, whether built upon or not, will be more bene- 
fited than any others. 

" I am one of those who feel this matter so deeply that I am 
willing to spend and be spent in the cause. I know the respon- 
sibility of coming here and advocating a city debt. I feel it 
and know it. But I know, too, the responsibility of those who 
oppose this Bill, who may perhaps defeat the adoption of it. I 
should not be willing to stand in their place here, after we 
had had, perhaps, a Pittsburg illustration of this necessity, — 
a fire, reaching perhaps from Washington Street to Winnisim- 



Atf APPEAL TO THE VOTERS. 49 

met Ferry. Do you want that, to convince you that it is abso- 
lutely necessary, that it is of vital importance, to have this 
supply ? I want no such exhibition here. There has been 
more property destroyed by fire in this city within twenty years 
than would defray the whole cost of this work. 

" I have brought myself to this point, that I would go for this 
Bill if only to provide the means for extinguishing fire ; and I 
believe, as a holder of property, that in twenty years I shall bu 
a gainer by it. 

" I put it to you now, whether you are willing to cast under 
your feet this great boon, obtained, with so much labor and per- 
severance. I say, No. I go for Water ; and if the Bill is not 
exactly what we wish, let us take it as it is, amend it as we 
can, and do the best we can with it. It is a good Bill as it is. 
I do hope, fellow-citizens, that you will not only go to the polls 
yourselves to vote for it, but that you will hold ward meetings 
and carry your neighbors to vote. For now or never is this 
thing to be done. In your time or mine we shall not achieve 
this blessing again. You cannot often get men without pay 
and without reward, and. sometimes, it has been said, with a 
little gentle abuse, to devote their time to carry through such 
a measure. If the majority is against the Bill, I shall submit. 
My opinion will not change, — I can live as long without 
water as others. But I shall be mortified for the character of 
the city. I love and glory in its fame and honor and public 
spirit. It would be strange indeed if in a city in which more 
money is raised for scientific, literary, and religious purposes 
than in any other cit} 7 of the country, — it would be strange if 
the people of Boston should throw away a boon so necessary to 
their happiness, both moral and physical. 

" I hope that all will look at this Bill honestly and without 
quibbling. When we come to great things let us not quibble. 
Come up and look at this Bill as it is, and go to the polls and 
vote for it. I beg and beseech you not, at this hour and mo- 
ment, after the work has all been done, to let it pass from you. 
It is in your power, and there is hardly anything fair, honorable, 
and above-board that I will not do to secure it. 

" I crave your pardon for having talked so long, but my inter- 
est in the subject has induced me to prolong my remarks. I 
hope we shall have another meeting next week and a full hall ; 



50 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

and if ray voice can do the slightest good, I am willing to come 
here again." 

The "Daily Advertiser" adds: "Mr. Lawrence closed 
amid loud applause. His speech had been received 
throughout with much enthusiasm, and he had been in- 
terrupted with frequent bursts of cheers." But the ex- 
pression of the popular will at the polls was against the 
measure for the time. The vote was taken on the 19th 
of May, and stood, yeas 3670, nays 3999. The following 
toast, drunk at the dinner of the Ancient and Honor- 
able Artillery Company, in June of that year, illustrates 
the nature and strength of the public feeling against it : 

" The City of Boston, — As jealous of despotic power in 1845, 
when it comes in the garb of pure water, as it was in 1775, 
when it came disguised in the form of tea." 

This toast called forth a very clever satire, which ap- 
peared in the "Daily Advertiser" of June 19, 1845, in 
the form of a letter, signed " Rabble," purporting to sus- 
tain the position of those who had been denouncing the 
Water Act as "anti-democratic," "despotic," containing 
" monstrous features," and " aiming a blow at the liberties 
of the people." Said " Rabble : " — 



" It is alarming to think that so insidious a design upon the 
liberties of Boston came so near its consummation. But for 
a few vigilant sentinels upon the watch-towers, who saw the 
storm coming from afar, and preached against the threatening 
deluge with more success than Noah did on a like occasion, we 
should have been in a few years submerged, as it were, in a "sea 
of despotism. . . . Baths, fountains, and pure water ! Where 
do they flourish most, and by whom are they held in highest 
esteem ? In Russia, that terrible despotism, they are universal. 
In Turkey, in Mahometan Turkey, they are the grand passion 
of every class. In Rome, in Papal Rome, baths and fountains 
are the chief instruments of perpetuating superstition and 
ecclesiastical tyranny. . . . Boston has been in great danger ; 



THE CITIZEN SOLDIERY. 51 

nor has the danger passed. The clouds, surcharged with water, 
still lower above the peninsular city. The aristocrats of Bea- 
con and Park Streets, the conspirators of Temple Place and 
Colonnade Row, are privily at work. . . . The landmarks of 
our constitutional liberties will be supplanted by water-marks, 
hydrants, hose and pipes, — pipes which, like their designing- 
authors, wriggle their tortuous way in darkness underground, 
loosening the very foundations of the city. We shall no longer 
be able to live in the constitutional dirt to which we were born. 
We are to be treated as tyrannic nurses treat their tender care. 
Our civic faces are to be scrubbed by our nursing civic fathers, 
unless we squall lustily, and vindicate ' the freedom of the soil,' 
which is our American birthright. Are not democracies always 
known as the great unwashed ? And shall we resign the very 
title-deed of our democratic principles without a struggle against 
this deluge of oligarchy ? " 

Ref erring; to Mr. Lawrence and other " mag-nates of 
the first water," who " pretend great regard for the 
health of the people, but it is only what an ancient poet 
calls ' fawning with a watery friendship,' : ' the writer con- 
cluded by saying that, if these men had their way, we 
should soon be " but little better off than New York." 
which was then busy with the construction of the Croton 
Water- Works. 

Fortunately for the city, these " magnates of the first 
water" did at length have their way. A second act, 
approved March 30, 1846, was submitted to the voters on 
the 13th of April following, and was adopted by a large 
majority, — yeas 4,637, nays 348. On the 25th of Oc- 
tober, 1848, under the mayoralty of the younger Quincy, 
the Cochituate water was brought into Boston; ami 
Mr. Lawrence lived long enough to see all his predictions 
more than verified. 

Mr. Lawrence was always a firm supporter of the citizen 
soldiery of the Commonwealth; and at a time when its 
importance was generally undervalued, and when the 
probability that it would ever be called again into active 



52 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

service was very remote, he availed himself of every 
opportunity to urge the necessity of maintaining it at a 
high standard of efficiency. As a young man he had 
assisted in organizing the New England Guards, one of 
the most popular and best trained volunteer companies in 
the State, and during the War of 1812 he had clone duty 
in its ranks. Thirty-two years later there was a parade, 
followed by a dinner, in which the older and the younger 
members of the corps participated together, thirty-two of 
the original Guards being present. The dinner took place 
at the United States Hotel, September 17, 1844. Mr. 
George Sullivan, the second captain, who was then living 
in New York, presided ; and among the speakers were Mr. 
Franklin Dexter, Mr. George Tyler Bigelow, afterwards 
Chief Justice of the Commonwealth, and Mr. Lawrence. 
A friend had asked that morning, u Mr. Lawrence, is it 
true that you are coming out as a soldier to-day with the 
Guards ? ' : " Yes," was the reply. " Well, that is most 
extraordinary; why do you do such a thing?" Mr. 
Lawrence's speech was an answer to this question. 

We live in a country, he said, whose government is 
founded in public opinion, and whose defence against 
outward aggression and inward commotion must be de- 
pendent upon citizen soldiers. He had always, from the 
time of the formation of the company, of which he was 
an original member, been in favor of sustaining the 
militia system ; and during that period of time when 
speculations in morals, religion, and government pressed 
on that system (he appealed to many of his old friends 
present) he entertained the same opinions as now, upon 
upholding this glorious arm of public defence established 
by our Pilgrim Fathers. " Sir," said he, " this institution 
has gone through a fiery trial in this Commonwealth. It 
has been attacked by all sorts and conditions of men ; 
but I trust it has lived long enough, and done service 
enough, to commend itself now and hereafter to the well- 



THE CITIZEN SOLDIERY. ;,;; 

disposed, right-thinking men of all parties." He felt a 
deep and abiding interest in the welfare of the country. 
Its fair escutcheon lias been disgraced by scenes of vio- 
lence and bloodshed. A wound has been inflicted upon 
the fair fame of our Republic by outbreaks of violence in 
a sister city. He made no apology there or elsewhere 
for having borne arms on that occasion. He believed 
that the impression produced by the parade would have a 
salutary effect upon the public mind. He wished, so far 
as he was concerned, that the evil-doers, if there were 
such in our own community, who were inclined to take 
the law into their own hands, might understand that there 
was a body of men, and a large one too, behind the regu- 
larly organized militia, and not liable by law to be ordered 
out, who were ready at all times, with arms in their hands, 
to defend the Constitution and Laws. He said that for one 
(and he had no doubt every gentleman who heard him 
would make the same declaration, and he was willing to 
say it to his country) he would hold himself ready at all 
times to aid in putting down any and every insurrection- 
ary movement intended to subvert the laws. 

Mr. Lawrence, says the " Atlas," from whose columns 
his remarks are taken, continued with great earnestness : 
'• You and I, sir, served in the company at a period that 
tried men's souls. We commenced with the war and 
served during its continuance ; and for one I am ready to 
put on the armor again for my country's honor. Look at 
the disgraceful scenes that have occurred in Philadelphia ! 
Could such a state of things have taken place in Boston ? ' 
(Cries of No! No!) " I say No, gentlemen, and as long 
as a drop of Revolutionary blood remains in my veins 1 
will say No, for I am ready to peril my life in defence of 
law and order." 

The effect of these words, we are told, was electrical. 
Every member, old and young, sprang to his feet, and 
nine hearty cheers demonstrated that these sentiments 



54 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

found a response in every heart. Mr. Lawrence went on 
to say that he had already taken up too much time, but he 
could not forbear giving one or two anecdotes that came 
to his mind at the moment. Seeing one of his old com- 
rades before him, he would relate an incident that oc- 
curred while the Guards were on duty during the war. 
In 1815 the frigate Constitution was chased into Marble- 
head by two British men-of-war. There were no means 
of defence in that town, and the expectation was that 
the enemy's vessels would attack the Constitution in port. 
An express arrived at the navy-yard, which was then 
commanded by Commodore Bainbridge. It was on Sun- 
day, immediately after the afternoon service. Commo- 
dore Bainbridge made a requisition for the New England 
Guards and other troops to march at once to Marblehead, 
to defend the favorite frigate. At 'that period of time 
the Guards were constantly in uniform. In three quar- 
ters of an hour they were on their march to Marblehead. 
There was great excitement in Boston. Charlestown 
Bridge was lined with people, and Charlestown Square 
was filled with enthusiastic citizens. The company were 
cheered by the people as they passed along, and, having 
arrived at the navy-yard, they waited there for further 
orders. Mr. Lawrence had in his eye a gentleman then in 
the line, and immediately in front of him, who said, " Law- 
rence, I came away in such a hurry that I forgot my 
boots ; I have on only a pair of pumps, which have 
broken away, and my feet are on the ground." At that 
instant a young man who stood in the crowd said, " Here, 
take my boots," pulling them off. " Put them on," he 
added, " and wear them on board the Constitution, but if 
you are taken, throw the boots overboard." * 



1 In the Memorial History of Boston, Vol. III. p. 345, this anecdote is given 
substantially as above, but Mr. Lawrence is mentioned as the soldier who received 
the boots, and it is said that he gave the young man five dollars for them. Mr. 
Lawrence's is the better story, and has the advantage of being the true one. 



THE NEW ENGLAND GUARDS. 55 

After alluding in touching language to the beautiful 
exhibition of father and son bearing arms together on the 
interesting occasion, and expressing the opinion that the 
company before him were not inferior — in discipline, in 
character, and in patriotic devotion to the public wel- 
fare — to their fathers of the Old Guards, he exhorted 
them to maintain that valuable institution, and any other 
designed to uphold constitutional liberty, as the}- had been 
transmitted by their fathers, and closed with the following 
sentiment : — 

The Original Guards, — Happy in the recollection of 
having responded to the call of their country in the day 
of demand, and confident in the belief that their succes- 
sors have been and ever will be ready to uphold the repu- 
tation of the corps by deeds of patriotic devotion. 1 

1 The following has been preserved among Mr. Lawrence's papers : — 

Boston, April 17, 1814. 
COMPANY ORDERS. 

Brigade and Regimental Orders of the 16th April current, this day received, 
announce signals of alarm in the event of an attack on our harbor or its vicinity ; 
and all companies are required to hold themselves in readiness to appear at their 
several company parades, at a moment's warning, by signals or otherwise. Serjeant 
Peabody will accordingly notify the members of the NEW ENGLAND GUARDS, 
that they are ordered to assemble at their armory, in uniform complete, with blue 
pantaloons, on the firing of two guns quick in succession, and display of a red flag, 
at the Navy Yard in Cliarlestown, by day ; or the firing of three guns quick in 
succession, and display of two lanterns perpendicular, in the Navy Yard, at night ; 
or on the tolling of the bells by day or night in Boston. Promptness and punc- 
tuality are expected. 

GEORGE SULLIVAN, Cut. 

April 17th, 1814. 
Pursuant to the preceding Order, you are hereby notified and warned to appear 
at the company's armory on notice by either of the signals mentioned above, in 
uniform complete, with blue pantaloons. 

Per order, 

A. PEABODY, 0. S. pro tern. 
Mr. Abbott Lawrence. 



CHAPTER VII. 

SERVICE IN CONGRESS. — THE ASHBURTON TREATY. 

Men of business in the United States, in our day 
especially, are inclined to think that they have no time or 
thought to spare for public affairs. Some of them say 
plainly that in attending exclusively to their own con- 
cerns they can make more money than in devoting them- 
selves in any degree to politics, and many more seem to 
act upon some such idea as this, although they do not put 
it into words. It is true, the spirit of partisanship has 
so degraded our politics, the issues between the opposing 
parties have to so large an extent become mere struggles 
for place and pelf, and so many of those who are influ- 
ential in the caucus and successful in gaining office are 
thoroughly selfish and utterly indifferent to, if not 
ignorant of, all considerations of political morality and 
of the permanent welfare and safety of the body pol- 
itic, — that men of honor, integrity, and independence, 
men of the first rank, whether in mercantile or pro- 
fessional life, are too often repelled from scenes, associa- 
tions, and aims so unworthy and so unpromising ; but to 
despair of politics in this country is to despair of the 
country itself, and to refuse to participate in political 
controversy and struggle in the ordinary times of peace 
is as unpatriotic and may prove as mischievous as to 
withhold personal service and sympathy in the exigency 
of war. Mr. Lawrence recognized the claims of his 
country upon him at all times, in peace no less than in 



SERVICE EN CONGRESS. 57 

war. He was too sagacious not to understand that the 
only true and lasting prosperity for the individual citizen 
is dependent upon the general well-being of the nation, 
and he was too liberal-minded and public-spirited to 
desire to leave to others the unshared burden of political 
responsibilities and the sole performance of political du- 
ties which, he knew, belonged in part to himself. He 
did not regard office for its own sake, nor did he refuse 
to accept it, when such acceptance did not seem to con- 
flict with other claims upon him. In 1831 he served as a 
representative from Ward Seven, in the Common Council 
of Boston. Mr. Harrison Gray Otis was Mayor during 
that year, and two gentlemen then in the municipal gov- 
ernment, Mr. Samuel T. Armstrong of the Board of 
Aldermen, and Mr. John Prescott Bigelow (Mrs. Law* 
rence's brother) of the Common Council, were afterwards 
elected to the chief magistracy of the city. 

In 1834 Mr. Lawrence was elected to a seat in the 
House of Representatives at Washington. He became a 
leading member of the Committee of Ways and Means, 
and, as a man of practical ability, large experience, and 
high character must always do, he exerted a marked 
influence upon the legislation of Congress during the two 
years of his membership. He felt obliged to decline a 
re-election, although he was assured that if he would 
take the nomination again the opposite party would not 
bring forward a candidate against him, — a remarkable 
compliment, when we remember the bitterness with which 
both Whigs and Democrats were in the habit of attacking 
each other in those days. On his return from Washington 
in the spring of 1837, his constituents, as we have already 
had occasion to mention, invited him to meet and address 
them at a public dinner; this compliment he declined in 
a letter in which he discussed the state of the country 
at the time. Two years later he consented to accept a 
second nomination, and he again took his seat in the 



58 ABBOTT LAWKENCE. 

House. " It was a disastrous session for him," says 
Mr. Prescott ; " for shortly after his arrival he was at- 
tacked by typhus fever of so malignant a type that, for 
some time, small hopes were entertained of his recovery. 
But he had good advice, and his fine constitution and the 
care of his devoted wife enabled him, by the blessing of 
Providence, to get the better of his disorder. It left be- 
hind, however, the seeds of another malady, in an enlarge- 
ment of the liver, which caused him much suffering in 
after life, and finally brought him to the grave." 

The " Boston Daily Advertiser " of September 22, 1840, 
announced Mr. Lawrence's resignation in the following 
terms : — 

We are sorry to learn, from the following letter, that the state 
of Mr. Lawrence's health is such as to oblige him to abandon the 
hope of being able to resume the discharge of his duties at 
Washington. It is a station at all times of great importance to 
the interests of our citizens, and it would at the present time 
have been particularly gratifying to be able to avail ourselves 
of the knowledge and experience of Mr. Lawrence, if the state 
of his health would have admitted of it. 

Boston, September 18, 1840. 

Dear Sir, — In consequence of protracted ill health, I feel 
myself compelled to resign my seat in Congress. I had hoped, 
until recently, to have avoided this alternative, and to have re- 
covered sufficient strength to be able to perform my Congressional 
duties the ensuing session. My medical counsellors, however, 
have unanimously advised me not to attempt any legislative duties 
for the present. I regret exceedingly, on my own account, that I 
am obliged to take such a step at this particular moment, when we, 
who have been in a minority for twelve years, are about to realize 
that change in the administration of the government for which 
we have been so zealously contending ; and I confess I should 
like to retain the office, with which the people have honored me, 
until that change shall have been fully consummated. That 
this event is certain to take place, I have little doubt. I believe 



RESIGNS UIS SEAT IN CONGRESS. 59 

that the majority of the people are convinced thai the presenl 
Executive and his immediate predecessor have not administered 
the government in accordance with the; principles upon which ii 
was founded, and tliat opinions have been expressed and incis- 
ures adopted thai have proved essentially detrimental to the 
prosperity of the people, and inimical to the very existence "l 
our civil institutions. 

I am rejoiced that we are about to be relieved from the noxious 
views of theorists, many of whom have taken up the repudiated 
doctrines and principles of political European speculators, and 
have attempted to apply them to us. 

I had hoped to have remained in public life long enough to take 
part in the settlement of a few prominent questions. Among 
them are those concerning the currency, the tariff, internal im- 
provements, and the public lands, all of which demand the early 
and serious attention of Congress. Yet, however agreeable it 
might be to me personally to represent the people of tins dis- 
trict, I feel that I should be doing them injustice to retain my 
seat without the prospect of being able to perforin all the duties 
which are incumbent upon their representative. I therefore not 
only feel bound to resign my seat, but to decline being a candi- 
date for election to the Twenty-seventh Congress, and respect- 
fully request that you will communicate this determination to 
the members of the convention. 

I cannot close this note without expressing through you, to 
the people of this district, my grateful acknowledgments for 
the high confidence they have reposed in me, and for the sup- 
port I have at all times received at their hands in the discharge 
of my official duties. I avail myself also of this occasion to say 
that the kind sympathy expressed for me, during along and dan- 
gerous illness, will never cease to be remembered with the mosl 
sincere gratitude. 

I have the honor to remain, dear sir, with the highest respect, 

Your friend and obedient servant, 

Abbott Lawrence. 

Pnn.ip Mvrett, Esq., 

Chairman of the County Convention. 



60 ABBOTT LAWBENCE. 

Mr. Webster, when told in 1850 of the nomination of 
Mr. William Apple ton for' Congress, said: "He is the 
best man who could be nominated. Boston should send 
commercial men to Congress ; they are infinitely more 
useful than lawyers ; and when Boston has been repre- 
sented by commercial men, she has always been better 
represented than at any other time. Mr. Appleton will 
have more influence than a dozen lawyers." When Mr. 
Webster made this remark, he undoubtedly had in mind 
the Congressional services of Mr. Lawrence, and of Mr. 
Nathan Appleton, who had preceded him. 

Mr. Lawrence entered into the political campaign of 
1840 with his accustomed earnestness, and did all that his 
physical strength would permit to make good the predic- 
tion in his letter of resignation as to a change of adminis- 
tration. On the eve of election-day he presided over an 
enthusiastic Whig meeting in Faneuil Hall, and soon after 
he was rejoicing over the election of General Harrison, 
by a majority greater than even he could have antici- 
pated. The victory, however, was to be a barren one, 
for President Harrison lived for a few w^eeks only, and 
John Tyler succeeded to the vacant chair. 

On General Harrison's accession to the presidency in 
1841, the relations of the United States with Great Britain 
had become to the last degree, critical. The misunder- 
standings on both sides, and the complications, had been 
multiplying and accumulating year by year ; and but for 
the. moderation of the leading men in the two govern- 
ments the supreme calamity of war could hardly have 
been averted. So grave was the situation in the judg- 
ment of the American Minister in London, Mr. Stevenson, 
that he felt it his duty to put himself in communication 
with the commander of the American squadron in the 
Mediterranean ; and Mr. Webster afterwards said to the 
people of Boston : " I w r ill tell you, in general terms, that 
if all that was known at Washington then had been com- 



THE ASIIBURTON NEGOTIATION. 



01 



mimicated throughout the country, the shipping interest of 
this city, and every other interest connected with the com- 
merce of the country, would have been depressed one half 
in six hours." The question of the Northeastern Boun- 
dary had been the subject of negotiation almost ever since 
the Peace of 1783 ; all the expedients of diplomacv had 
been exhausted in the vain endeavor to settle it; and the 
King of the Netherlands, who had been appealed to as 
arbitrator, had been unable to solve the difficulty. Then 
there were the questions of impressment, the extradition 
of fugitives, and the suppression of the slave trade, — the 
latter involving the right of search, or of " visitation," as 
Lord Palmerston preferred to call it. There was also the 
affair of the Caroline, a dispute arising from the Cana- 
dian troubles of 1837, which had embroiled us with our 
neighbors on the north ; and, superadded to all the rest, 
came the matter of the Creole in the autumn of 1841, 
and the liberation of its cargo of human beings by the 
Governor of the Bahamas, which aroused all the suscep- 
tibilities of the slave-holding; and slave-trading commu- 
nities within our own borders in the South. 

It was well that at such a juncture there should be a 
change of administration in both countries, so that men 
might come fresh to the work of negotiation, untram- 
melled by anything previously said or done by them. 
Just six months after the Whig administration came into 
office in Washington, the Ministry of Lord Melbourne 
resigned, and was succeeded by that of Sir Robert Peel, — 
with Lord Aberdeen for Foreign Secretary, Sir James 
Graham as Home Secretary, and Mr. Gladstone, Lord 
Lincoln, and Mr. Sidney Herbert in minor offices. Mr. 
Everett (from 1836 to 1840 Governor of Massachusetts) 
had succeeded Mr. Stevenson in London, and in the 
month of December Lord Aberdeen communicated to him 
the instructions which had been given by his Government 
to the British cruisers for their guidance in their search 



g2 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

for slavers. In reference to these instructions President 
Tyler afterwards said, in a Message to Congress, " These 
declarations may well lead us to doubt whether the ap- 
parent difference between the two Governments is not 
rather one of definition than of principle," — a view of the 
question ultimately taken by Congress also. A few days 
later, December 27, 1841, Lord Aberdeen informed Mr. 
Everett, at an interview to which he had invited him, that 
the British Government had determined to send a special 
mission to the United States, and that Lord Ashburton 
had been selected as plenipotentiary, with full powers to 
settle every question in controversy. This intelligence 
was received with the utmost satisfaction by President 
Tyler and by his Secretary of State, Mr. Webster, who 
cordially reciprocated the conciliatory spirit of the new 
British Ministry, and prepared a cordial welcome for the 
distinguished envoy when he should arrive. 

But the appointment and expected coming of Lord Ash- 
burton on his mission of peace at first only made more 
apparent the difficulties which surrounded the settlement 
of the Northeastern Boundary question. Mr. Everett, in 
his Biographical Memoir of Mr. Webster, says : — 

" The points in dispute in reference to the boundary had for 
years been the subject of discussion, more or less, throughout 
the country, but especially in Massachusetts and Maine (the 
States having an immediate territorial interest in its decision), 
and, above all, in the last-named State. Parties differing on 
all other great questions emulated each other in the zeal with 
which they asserted the American side of this dispute. . . . 
The first step taken by Mr. Webster, after receiving the direc- 
tions of the President in reference to the negotiation, was to 
invite the co-operation of Massachusetts and Maine, the terri- 
tory in dispute being the property of the two States, and under 
the jurisdiction of the latter. The extent of the treaty-making 
power of the United States, in a matter of such delicacy as the 
cession of territory claimed by a State to be within its limits, 
belongs to the more difficult class of constitutional doctrines. 



THE ASHBURTON TREATY. G3 

. . . The administration of Mr. Tyler took for granted that 
the full consent of Massachusetts and Maine was necessary to 
any adjustment of this great dispute on the principle of mutual 
cession and equivalents, or any other principle than that of the 
ascertainment of the true, original line of boundary by agree- 
ment, mutual commission, or arbitration. Communications 
were therefore addressed to the governors of the two States. 
Massachusetts had anticipated the necessity of the measure, 
and made provision for the appointment of commissioners. 
The Legislature of Maine was promptly convened for the same 
purpose by the late Governor Fairfield. Four parties were 
thus in presence at Washington for the management of the 
negotiation, — the United States and Great Britain, Massachu- 
setts and Maine. Recollecting that the question to be settled 
was one which had defied all the arts of diplomacy for half a 
century, it seemed to a distant, and especially an European 
observer, as if the last experiment, exceeding every former step 
in its necessary complications, was destined to a failure propor- 
tionably signal and ignominious. The course pursued by the 
American Secretary, in making the result of the negotiation 
relative to the boundary contingent upon the approval of the 
State commissioners, was regarded in Europe as decidedly 
ominous of its failure." 

The commissioners appointed on the part of Massa- 
chusetts were Messrs. Abbott Lawrence, John Mills, and 
Charles Allen ; on the part of Maine, they were Messrs. 
Edward Kavanagh, Edward Kent, William Pitt Preble, 
and John Otis. They were selected without reference to 
party views, and they fairly represented the public opin- 
ion of the two States. 

For every reason the choice of Mr. Law r rence as a nego- 
tiator in behalf of Massachusetts was a most fortunate 
one. Like Lord Ashburton, he was a man of great prac- 
tical experience, he had dealt successfully with large 
pecuniary interests, he had learned lessons of mutual con- 
cession and conciliation in the not unworthy rivalries of 
the mart and the exchange, and he had become accus- 
tomed to look at all questions in their broadest relations. 



64 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

Like him, also, he had social position and possessed per- 
sonal qualities which gave emphasis to his opinions and 
judgments. The two were peculiarly adapted to meet 
each other on the opposite sides of such controversies as 
were now, if possible, to be adjusted by their joint efforts; 
and in a kindred spirit, although each in his own way and 
from his own point of view, they diligently sought for, 
and in due time they reached, a basis of settlement equally 
equitable and honorable for all parties concerned. Refer- 
ring to Mr. Lawrence's special qualifications for the work 
of negotiation, Mr. Prescott says : — 

" There was an ample field for the exercise of these powers 
on the present occasion, when prejudices of long standing were 
to be encountered, when pretensions of the most opposite kind 
were to be reconciled, when the pertinacity with which these 
pretensions had been maintained had infused something like a 
spirit of acrimony into the breasts of the disputants. Yet no 
acrimony could stand long against the genial temper of Mr. 
Lawrence, or against that spirit of candor and reasonable con- 
cession which called forth a reciprocity of sentiment in those he 
had to deal with. The influence which he thus exerted over his 
colleagues contributed, in no slight degree, to a concert of action 
between them. Indeed, without derogating from the merits 
of the other delegates, it is not too much to say that, but for 
the influence exerted by Mr. Lawrence on this occasion, the 
treaty, if it had been arranged at all, would never have been 
brought into the shape which it now wears." 

Mr. Lawrence's influence was hardly less valuable with 
the President than with his colleagues ; for the former had 
misgivings at different stages in the negotiation which it 
required much tact and patience to remove, and in deal- 
ing with which Mr. Webster was glad to avail himself of 
the aid of his eminent friend. At lens-th all difficulties 
were overcome ; the susceptibilities of the various parties 
in interest were met, and their conflicting claims har- 
monized ; the sanction of the Senate was given, and the 
proceedings were brought to a close. 



: 



tiie "times" on the treaty. 65 

Lord Ashburton was heartily welcomed, and made a 
most favorable impression, wherever he went in this 
country. In Boston he was officially received by the 
.Mayor. Mr. Jonathan Chapman, at Faneuil Hall (August 
31, 1842); and in the course of his remarks he referred 
to a visit he had made to the town half a centurv be- 
fore. He was present at the Phi Beta Kappa dinner al 
Cambridge ; and on the eve of his departure from New 
York a dinner was given to him at the Astor House, In 
England his work was generally approved, and was rec- 
ognized by a formal vote of thanks in Parliament. It 
received some hostile criticism there and elsewhere, and 
some faint praise ; but the general result of peace with 
which it had been crowned was accepted with thank- 
fulness by almost everybody. The " Times " gave only 
a 1 qualified approbation to the several provisions of the 
treaty, but it rejoiced heartily over the prospect of a 
better understanding and of more amicable relations be- 
tween the two governments. It said : — 

44 We hail, as a serious and permanent boon to this country 
and the United States, the termination of Lord Ashburton's 
mission to America, furnishing, as it has done, a peaceful set- 
tlement of a variety of questions, — some immediately men- 
acing, and all ministering an ever ready occasion of mischief at 
any time when the British and American governments found 
themselves hostilely disposed." 

It then considered the various questions which were 
awaiting adjustment at the opening of the negotiations. 
"With the settlement of the Boundary question," it said. 
"little fault can be found." The concession of the navi- 
gation of the St. John River through New Brunswick to 
its mouth, it looked upon "with a suspicious eye" The 
article respecting the slave trade it declared to be unim- 
portant enough ; " it settles nothing." On the subject of 
impressment nothing had been done, because Lord Ash- 

5 



66 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

burton had not been empowered to treat with reference 
to it. The differences relating to the Creole, the Caroline, 
and McLeod had been put at rest in a correspondence 
which would be before the world in due time. It pro- 
ceeded further : — 

" This is a short statement of what has been effected, and 
for this, on the whole, we cannot but express our sincere grati- 
tude to the envoy who has carried into effect, and to the 
Cabinet which has directed, the present mission. To Lord 
Aberdeen, we presume, is the credit more especially due of 
having furnished the instructions by which the powers of the 
English plenipotentiary were to be directed and controlled. He 
has done it wisely, temperately, and with success. England, 
indeed, has secured no striking advantage, has accomplished 
no increase of power or privilege, has received no provinces 
under her protection, has pushed her fleets into no fresh re- 
gion of adventure. But it was not with these purposes that 
the task was undertaken. It was an effort at pacification, and 
in that object it appears, with no loss of English honor, to 
have fully and completely succeeded. . . . Independent of the 
ancient questions of boundary and impressment, America was 
considered by the retiring ministers as one of the most unman- 
ageable and perplexing legacies which they bequeathed to the 
treatment of their successors. That mischievous employe, Ste- 
venson, had quitted the country, boasting of the discord which 
he left behind him. Lord Palmerston chuckled with similar 
anticipations ; and after he had relinquished the bureau of the 
Foreign Office, still another subject was added to the already 
threatening list of differences, by the liberation of the slaves of 
the Creole. It required all our faith in the wise and pacific 
inclinations of the two governments to support us in our expec- 
tations of permanent peace. Good men doubted, and knaves 
predicted with confidence and glee a speedy rupture. We owe 
Lords Aberdeen and Ashburton thanks for the fact that not 
only has the cloud blown over, but that at no period within the 
memorv of man has America shown more hearty signs of a 
warm and amicable feeling towards this country, than in the 
kindness with which she has welcomed, and the enthusiasm 
with which she has dismissed from her shores, the British 
ambassador of peace." 



VALUE OF MK. LAWRENCE'S SERVICES. G7 

In the United States, while there was a very decided 
expression of dissent, on the part of some, from the 
positions laid down by Mr. Webster, in his correspond- 
ence before and during the negotiation, in reference to 
the question of the right of search and the case of the 
Creole, 1 the large credit due to him for his share in the 
conclusion of the treaty was freely accorded by his fellow- 
countrymen. Perhaps his services were allowed for a 
time to overshadow those of others, Mr. Lawrence's 
especially, without which he might not have been able 
to bring the negotiations to so successful a termination. 
This was not altogether strange, seeing that he was both 
Secretary of State and plenipotentiary, and that his signa- 
ture alone appeared at the foot of the treaty, in behalf 
of the United States. But, by those most competent to 
judge, the value of the service performed by Mr. Law- 
rence was fully recognized. We have already quoted the 
opinion of Mr. Prescott. The testimony of Mr. Charles 
G. Loring is no less weighty and no less emphatic. At a 
meeting on the Boston Exchange, called to take suitable 
notice of the death of Joshua Bates, Mr. Loring, after 
speaking of the assistance rendered by Mr. Bates and 
Mr. William Sturgis in connection with the settlement of 
the Oregon Boundary question, added : — 

1 In a letter to Lord Morpeth, Mr. Sumner writes: "Webster is hoping to get 
hack to the bar. He told me a week ago of Lord Aberdeen's reception of his note 
of last March, on what has been called the ' right of visit,' hut which I call the 
' right of inquiry.' It seems that Mr. Everett read Webster's note, when Lord Aber- 
deen made what seems tome — as it seemed to Webster — the extraordinary state- 
ment that he did not agree with the doctrine put forth by Sir Robert reel in the 
House of Commons on this subject. He added that his note — a very able one, I 
think — of December, 1841, was written currenle calamo; and he was astonished that 
it had stood so well as it had. He found nothing important in Webster's note to take 
exception to, but he thought he might undertake to reply to one or two things in 
it. This he has never done; and Mr. Webster considers Lord Aberdeen a convert 
to his doctrine. If my Lord is a convert, there are some Americans who arc not. 
Old Mr. Adams is not ; and he is determined to find an occasion to express his 
views. He told me that he agreed entirely in the conclusion of two articles th.it I 
wrote on the subject, and which you read while in the country." — Memoir mi, I 
Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. II. pp. 270, 277. 



68 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

" Another exhibition of remarkable ability and personal influ- 
ence upon the welfare of nations, exercised by persons in mer- 
cantile life, appeared in the settlement of that most dangerous 
and difficult question of the Northeastern Boundary, which 
came so very near to involving us in war with England. The 
apparently immediate negotiators were not, indeed, both mer- 
chants, the United States being represented by Mr. Webster ; 
but Lord Ashburton, formerly Mr. Alexander Baring, and the 
head of the celebrated house of which Mr. Bates was a member, 
and who had been raised to the peerage by reason of his exten- 
sive reputation, wealth, and influence as a merchant, was ap- 
pointed to represent England for the especial purpose of settling 
that vexed question ; and Mr. Abbott Lawrence, of whose emi- 
nence as a merchant I need not speak here, was appointed on 
the part of the State of Massachusetts as one of the commis- 
sioners to aid in the adjustment. And it is doing no injustice 
to Mr. Webster nor to any one else, to assert that by means of 
Mr. Lawrence's efforts and his influence upon the other commis- 
sioners, to him (quoting the words of Mr. Nathan Appleton) 
more than to any other individual is due the successful accom- 
plishment of the negotiation which resulted in the important 
treaty of Washington, — a treaty, by the way, about which the 
most remarkable and unfounded perversions of the truth, impli- 
cating the intelligence of Lord Ashburton and the fairness of 
Mr. Webster, still prevail in England, notwithstanding an em- 
phatic correction and denial of them afterwards by the British 
ministers in Parliament." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

A VISIT TO ENGLAND. — THE LOSS OF THE STEAMSHIP COLUMBIA. 

In the summer of 1843 Mr. Lawrence determined to 
make another visit to Europe, for purposes of rest and 
recreation ; and the trip is memorable, because he and 
Mrs. and Miss Lawrence (Mrs. Botch) were on board the 
Cunard steamship Columbia when she was wrecked be- 
tween Boston and Halifax. They sailed on Saturday, 
the 1st of July, and on the following day the ship ran 
ashore on Black Ledge, near Seal Island, the coastwise 
pilot who had her in charge having been deceived in his 
reckoning by an extraordinary indraught of the tide into 
the Bay of Fundy. The news of the disaster reached 
Bangor on the next Friday, and Boston, by special train 
from Portland, on Sunday afternoon. The Boston papers 
of Monday the 10th published the following from the 
"Bangor Gazette Extra" of the previous Friday after- 
noon : — 

" The schooner Three Sons, Captain Kendrick, arrived at 
Mount Desert with the important information that the royal 
mail steamer Columbia, while going at the rate of ten knots in 
the fog, struck upon Black Ledge, near Seal Island, Nova 
Scotia, last Monday [Sunday] afternoon, with so much violence 
that the vessel was driven out of water five feet. When the 
schooner left, she was going to pieces, and was supposed would 
be a total loss. She is reported to have had one hundred and 
eighty persons on board, one of whom was missing. - 1 Among 

1 A sailor had strayed away from the rest of the party, but returned afterward. 

It wa9 nearly thirty years before the Cunard Steamship Company lost another 
vessel. In 1872 the steamer Tripoli was wrecked off Tuskar, on her way to 
Queenstown and Boston. 



70 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

them was the Hon. Abbott Lawrence, who paid Captain Ken- 
drick one hundred dollars to bring the news to the nearest port 
in the United States. The passengers were waiting upon Seal 
Island for a steamer, for which they had sent to Halifax by 
brig Arcade, to take them off. Baggage, freight, etc., saved. 
Seal Island is off Townsend Bay, on the S. W. Coast of Nova 
Scotia." 

The following letter from Mr. Lawrence to his son 
James also appeared in the papers of the 10th and 11th : 

Seal Island, July 3, 1843. 
My dear Son, — We left Boston at quarter past two o'clock 
on the 1st instant, and experienced a most agreeable run till 
yesterday, at quarter past one, when (it being fogg} r ) the Colum- 
bia struck on the Black Ledge, one and a quarter miles from 
this island, at high water. When the tide began to ebb, we saw 
large rocks on the larboard side, about ten fathoms' distance, 
and a long reef not a cable's length from us. Before half tide 
down, these rocks were four feet above the water. Soon after 
she struck, we commenced throwing over coal, which was con- 
tinued through the day. At half past two we began firing our 
cannon ; in half an hour after, we were answered by a musket, 
which relieved us from the most painful anxiety, as we were not 
quite certain where we were, and hoped it might be from the 
land. At four o'clock the fog lifted, and we had the inexpres- 
sible satisfaction of seeing a fishing schooner making for the 
ship with a small boat in tow. The captain of the schooner 
(Hitchings), who is the keeper of the lighthouse, came on board 
and gave us an account of our situation, which appeared any- 
thing but flattering. We soon concluded, as it was evident 
the Columbia was in a rocky berth, that it was prudent to take 
the ladies on shore (fourteen in number) besides several in the 
steerage and five or six children. This was accomplished at six 
o'clock, without injury to any one; and here we found two 
small houses, a mile or more distant from each other, inhabited 
by kind and efficient people, who exhibit all the sympathy and 
care we could desire. There are no other habitations upon the 
island, which is rough and barren. The nearest mainland is 
Barrington, which is twenty-five miles distant. This morning, 
at high tide, an attempt was made to float the ship, which 






THE LOSS OF THE STEAMSHIP COLUMBIA. 71 

proved unsuccessful, and at half past two the captain requested 
the passengers (fifty in number) who remained on board to go 
on shore, about forty having landed last evening. The pas- 
sengers are now all on shore, and one half the baggage. The 
mails are all here, and the remaining part of the baggage will 
be received in the course of an hour. 

The opinion now is that the ship will be lost ; she is very 
much strained, and has heeled over considerably. We have 
ninety-five passengers, and seventy-three officers, crew, etc., be- 
longing to the ship, in all one hundred and sixty-eight souls. 
The captain has conducted himself with great coolness and cour- 
age, and displayed that energy and magnanimity that belong to 
his noble profession. And now, having no more time to write, 
I have only to say that I deem our preservation extraordinary : 
twenty yards on either side of the ship, with a moderate breeze, 
would have consigned us all to a watery grave. 

Through the mercy of Almighty God, we have all been 
spared, living monuments of his protecting care ; and we and 
you and all our friends should offer up to our Heavenly Father 
the homage of grateful hearts for this signal instance of his 
sparing mercy. The ladies and all the passengers have con- 
ducted themselves in a manner that should command our admi- 
ration. We shall send an express for a steamer to Halifax, 
which I suppose is nearly two hundred miles, we being now 
about two hundred and forty miles from Boston. We have 
provision enough for the present, and can make ourselves toler- 
ably comfortable under all the circumstances in which we are 
placed. Your mother and sister are quite well, and I am better 
than could be expected after the anxiety and fatigue through 
which I have passed. I shall write the first opportunity. Do 
not, however, be anxious ; the season is favorable, and I have 
no doubt we shall all be provided for. 

In great haste, I remain, with the truest affection, 

Abbott Lawrence. 

P. S. It is justice to Captain Shannon to say that, as the 
ship was in charge of the pilot, of course he is exonerated from 
all blame. 

This disaster was, we believe, only the third which had 
taken place during the four or five years in which steam- 



i^ ABBOTT LAWKENCE. 

ers had been running on the Atlantic. The steamship 
President, Lieutenant Roberts, R. N., commander, foun- 
dered, as is supposed, soon after leaving New York in the 
spring of 1841, and all on board perished ; and the West 
India mail packet Solway, Captain Duncan, was wrecked 
off Corunna in April, 1843, and fifty persons, including 
the captain, were drowned. As compared with either of 
these events, the loss of the Columbia was not so great a 
calamity, for the whole ship's company came safe to land. 
But the hazard had been imminent, and the papers had 
much to say about the affair for some time to come. A 
letter appeared in the " Atlas," written from Halifax, 
July 20, by Mr. Joseph T. Adams, who had been sent 
there probably to obtain further information, and we 
will quote one or two paragraphs from it : — 

" It appears that the Columbia, while running at the rate of 
ten knots, ran up an inclined plane of smooth rock, and thus 
rested on the ledge, without the slightest injury to any person on 
board. The shock, although so fatal in its consequences to the 
ship, was in fact so gentle at the time as to render it for some 
minutes a matter of extreme doubt what had occurred. Some 
supposed that in the dense fog she had encountered a small 
vessel ; others, that she had touched a shoal of sand or mud ; 
while some supposed that it was merely the effect of the sea. 
But there she lay, fast by the head, with the stern rising and 
falling: with the fluctuation of the waves. For some time no 
sio-ns of rocks were visible. In the course of half an hour, as 
the tide fell, several pointed rocks showed their heads above 
water, and from the receding tide and from soundings it be- 
came evident that the vessel lay on an inclined plane of solid 
rock, with very dangerous rocky points within a few yards of 
the quarter. 

1 When Mr. Lawrence was in Europe in 1818, he made a visit to Holland and 
Belgium. While coming back to England, and on board the packet between 
Ostend and Margate, he was walking the deck, engaged in conversation with an 
English gentleman whose name even he did not know, when the vessel gave a sud- 
den and violent lurch, and this gentleman was thrown overboard, and immediately 
;ind forever disappeared from view. 



A SUMMER IN ENGLAND. 73 

"Amid this appalling scene the most perfect order, decorum, 
and patience prevailed among all present ; and the conduct of 
Captain Shannon was cool, collected, and judicious, — making 
every effort to get the ship off. But you have already had the 
details of the landing, etc. 

" On shore, the next day, a meeting was organized, at the 
head of which was the Hon. Abbott Lawrence, for the pro- 
visional government of the community. This was done, with 
common consent, for the purpose of husbanding the provisions, 
water, and resources, for the general comfort and accommoda- 
tion of all concerned. Being thus suddenly reduced, as it were, 
to a primitive state of nature, some such sort of organization 
was a matter of obvious convenience and necessity. It was 
soon found, however, that all the baggage was saved, and that 
an abundance of provisions had been rescued from the wreck. 
Thus they remained till taken to Halifax by the Margaret 
steamer." 

The Margaret proceeded to England with the crew and 
most of the passengers of the Columbia. Mr. Lawrence 
and his party waited for the Hibernia, Captain Juclkins, 
and during their stay in Halifax received many kind 
attentions from Lord Falkland, then Governor of Nova 
Scotia, and other influential and hospitable people. The 
London season was late that year, and they arrived in 
time to participate in the closing festivities, and to wit- 
ness the prorogation of Parliament by the Queen in the 
House of Lords. They received many attentions from 
both old and new friends. Mr. Everett invited Macaulay 
to meet them at breakfast in Grosvenor Place, and Mr. 
Bates gave them a whitebait dinner at Greenwich. They 
breakfasted with the poet Rogers in St. James's Place, and 
dined with Sir William Clay at Fulham Lodge. They 
were present at a concert at Apsley House, and at a ball 
at Stafford House. Leaving London towards the end 
•of August, they travelled leisurely through the country, 
going as far north as Edinburgh and the Trosachs. They 
then crossed to Ireland and visited the Giant's Causeway. 



74 



ABBOTT LAWKENCE. 



Eeturning to Holyhead, they spent several days in Wales; 
they reached Liverpool in time to embark in the Hibernia 
on the 4th of October, and landed in Boston on the 18th 
of the same month. 



CHAPTER IX. 

WHIG POLITICS. — THE NOMINATIONS OF MR. CLAY AND GEN- 
ERAL TAYLOR. — THE VICE-PRESIDENCY. — THE MISSION TO 
ENGLAND. 

For several years after the Ashburton negotiation Mr. 
Lawrence held no office or public appointment. He de- 
voted himself to the great manufacturing interests which 
depended so largely upon him, finding time, however, as 
we have seen, to advocate and promote various measures 
of public improvement and reform, and taking a leading 
part in the politics of the day. He had been an active 
member of the Whig party from its very beginning, and 
had been very prominent in the campaign which resulted 
in the election of General Harrison in 1840. In the 
autumn of 1842 he presided at the State Convention held 
in Boston, which presented Henry Clay and John Davis 
as candidates to be nominated for the presidency and vice- 
presidency in 1844. He said on that occasion : — 

' ; I stand here on the same ground on which I stood in 1840. 
I stand on the same platform of principles, which has never 
changed. We have met here to take a new departure, to take 
an observation carefully and deliberately, and to resolve when 
that observation is taken and that departure calculated, to 
follow out our course with resolution and with ardor. I said 
that we stand on the same platform. It is that of principles 
which we have maintained for the last twenty years ; and for 
the last two years no one can have changed in his opinion of, 
or adherence to, those principles. To-day we have met not 
merely to nominate our candidates for certain offices, but to 
call to mind and to discuss those principles ; to enter into the 
history of the past, and, I hope, to get some foretaste of the 
future." 



76 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

This Convention included, in the roll of its membership, 
Joseph Grinnell, Stephen C. Phillips, John G. Palfrey, 
Samuel H. Walley, Thomas Kinnicutt, Emory Washburn, 
and Alexander H. Bullock, and undoubtedly represented 
fairly the Whig sentiment of Massachusetts at the time. 
Its proceedings, however, were sharply criticised by some, 
because it had made declaration of " a full and final sepa- 
ration ' : between the Whigs of the country and President 
Tyler, and also because it had brought forward the name 
of Mr. Clay as a candidate for the presidency, and not 
that of Mr. Webster. Mr. Webster himself regarded this 
action as a formal and pronounced condemnation of his 
course, particularly in remaining in the Cabinet after the 
resignation of his Whig colleagues, and, a few days later, 
he made one of his most memorable speeches as an answer 
to it. Mr. Sumner, who was present, and who, we need 
not say, was well qualified to describe such an occasion, 
has left a brief account of it. Writing under date of 
October 1, 1842, to his friend Lord Morpeth, from whom 
he had just parted on the deck of the Great Western in 
New York harbor, he said : — 

"In the evening I took up my solitary journey to Boston, 
where I arrived in season for Webster's speech. The hall was 
crowded to suffocation. Webster looked like Coriolanus : he 
seemed to scorn, while he addressed, the people. His speech 
was unamiable, but powerful and effective. I send it herewith, 
that 3-011 may judge for yourself. It will cause a good deal of 
confusion among the Whigs, and will irritate Mr. Clay and his 
friends. When he came to speak of Clay's favorite measure, — 
the Compromise Act, — he drew from the bitterest fountains. 
He forbore to speak of the motives of its framer; for the motives 
of all public men are to be supposed to be pure. He lashed 
with an iron flail the action of the recent Whig Convention in 
Massachusetts, over which Abbott Lawrence presided, which 
nominated Clay for President. The speech was not received 
with any warmth. The applause seemed to be led off by some 
claqueurs, or fuglemen, and in rapture and spontaneousness was 



MR. WEBSTER AND THE PRESIDENCY. 77 

very unlike the echoes which he has excited in the same hall at 
other times. We are all uncertain still whether he means to 
resign. Some of his friends construe passages of the speech in 
favor of resignation, and others contrariwise. I should rather 
infer that he meant to stay." 

It is difficult now to see that Mr. Webster had anv 
reason to complain of the Convention, except that it did 
not present him as a nominee for the presidency. 1 It 
had passed a strongly worded resolution, acknowledging 
the value of his services in connection with the Treaty of 
Washington; and this, by implication, would seem to have 
been an approval of his continuance at the head of the 
State Department. Further, Mr. Lawrence, Mr. Grinnell, 
Mr. Kinnicutt, and others who had participated promi- 
nently in the proceedings, had joined in a cordial letter 
inviting him to a public dinner, which he had declined, 
preferring to meet his fellow-citizens in Faneuil Hall, 
and to address them there, as we have seen that he did. 
Nor were the Whigs of Massachusetts under a positive 
obligation to present his name, under any and all cir- 
cumstances, for the presidential nomination. Men like 
Mr. Adams, Dr. Channing, and Mr. Sumner were becom- 
ing alienated from him, because of what they regarded as 
his subserviency to the South ; and others may have lost 
their admiration for him for other reasons. It should be 
said, also, that outside of New England his popularity 
had been seriously weakened by his remaining in the 
Cabinet of President Tyler. But independently of all 
such considerations, it is easy to understand why the 
Whigs of Massachusetts should have designated Mr. Clay 
as their standard-bearer in 1842, and why he was made 
the nominee of the party in 1844. He had been its 

i At a dinner at the Tremont House in 1848, just after the election of General 
Taylor, Mr. Lawrence having spoken in terms of high praise of the President-elect, 
and vouched for his soundness as a Whig, Mr. Wehster made a speech which, in 
tone and temper, if we may judge from the description of it left by some who 
were present, was very much like the Faneuil Hall speech of 1842. 



ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 



candidate for the presidency in the days of its infancy, in 
1832 ; and he was its foremost champion to the day of his 
death, twenty years later. For this statement we have 
the authority of Mr. Winthrop, who has recently written 
as follows : — 

" Mr. Clay was indeed emphatically the leader of what is 
now spoken of historically as the old Whig party of the United 
States. Even Webster, with all the surpassing power which 
he brought to its support, could hardly at any time have con- 
tested the leadership with him, even had he been disposed to 
do so. Webster was indeed its local, New England head and 
pride. But take the country through, — North, South, East, 
and West, — Clay was acknowledged and recognized as its 
chief." i 

In 1844 Mr. Lawrence was a member of the National 
Whig Convention, and one of the electors at large for 
the State of Massachusetts. The following letter to the 
Whigs of Essex County gives his views upon the issues 
involved in the campaign of that year : — 

Newport, R. I., Aug. 20, 1844. 
My dear Sir, — I beg to acknowledge your favor (received 
at this place), and thank you for the invitation with which I 
am honored, to be present at and to take part in a mass con- 
vention to be held at Lynn on the 11th of September. I wish 
from my heart that the state of my health would permit me to 
accept it, and, in accordance with your wishes, to offer such 
views as I entertain upon the subject of the protection of Ameri- 
can labor. 1 am, however, forbidden the satisfaction of being 
with you ; in fact, I am physically disabled from addressing- 
public assemblages at this time. You will therefore, I trust, on 
the present occasion "take the will for the deed." There are 
many men in our own and other States who have brought more 
ability to bear upon the great question of the protection of our 
own labor than myself; but I cannot yield to any one in sincere 
devotion of my best energies to the maintenance of the tariff 
policy, or the fidelity with which I have pursued it for nearly 

1 Mem. Biog. N. Eng. Hist. Gen. Soc, Vol. I. p. 376. 



TIIE CAMPAIGN OF 1844. 79 

twenty years, and amidst trials which at some periods seemed 
almost too great to be surmounted. 

I rejoice now, and congratulate the country, on the estab- 
lishment of a system that I hope may have so far recommended 
itself to the people as to insure at all times a full reward for the 
wages of labor. On this system of the protection of labor rests, 
in my humble judgment, the prosperity and happiness of this 
mighty empire. In all our experience with high duties and low 
duties, and the advantages derived from the tariff of 1842, we 
still have existing among us a party who profess to be in favor 
of the protection of labor, and }^et are ready to cast their votes 
for a man proposed to occupy the highest office in the gift of the 
people, who avows his hostility to the protection of our labor, 
besides being in favor of the immediate annexation of Texas. 
These facts I know from personal acquaintance with Mr. Polk, 
and every man may possess the same knowledge by reading his 
printed speeches in Congress, and those delivered in Tennessee 
when he lost his election for governor. 

How any man in Lynn, or old Ussex, or in New England, can 
cast his vote for Mr. Polk, with his ultra views of national 
policy, is more than I can comprehend. Upon the subjects of 
Texas and the Tariff, Mr. Polk entertains the views of the State 
of South Carolina ; and if you desire to know his views more in 
detail, you can find them in the doctrines put forth by the lead- 
ing men of that State. Mr. Polk has come out boldly in favor 
of the extension of slavery. He has told us that he is in favor 
of a horizontal tariff of twenty per cent, the effect of which 
would be (if adopted), in opening our markets to all the world, 
to place our free and independent laborers on an equality with 
the pauper laborers of Europe. I say then to the citizens of 
the Free States, Are you ready to elect Mr. Polk and try his 
experiments? I have confidence that there is too much sound 
sense in all the States to adopt the abstractions of South Caro- 
lina. The election about to take place, it appears to me, is the 
most important since the adoption of the Constitution, and, I 
confess, I feel a deep interest in the result. 

We have a candidate for the Presidency with whom I have 
enjoyed a very long and intimate acquaintance, and I say, with 
perfect confidence, that I know not the man in this world who 
is so likely to restore to the Government and the country its lost 
honor, and to bring us back to those good old times when the 



^Q ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

Government was administered under the early Presidents for 
the benefit of the whole people and not for "the spoils of 

party." 

I wish to see once more dignity and honor seated in the 
presidential chair. In the person of Henry Clay we have 
them united. Let us then go for Clay and Frelinghuysen — 
the American System — and the Union as it is. 

I have written more than I intended. I pray you to pardon 
me, and accept for the Committee and yourself the assurances 
with which I remain Your friend and brother Whig, 

Abbott Lawrence. 

To Daniel S. Baker, Esq., and others, Committee, Lynn. 

Mr. Lawrence's strong preference for Mr. Clay in 1842 
and 1844, and for General Taylor, in anticipation of the 
Convention of 1848, cost him the nomination for the vice- 
presidency in the latter year, and, as it proved, the office 
of the presidency itself in 1850. It was generally con- 
ceded beforehand that he was to receive the nomination 
on the same ticket with General Taylor ; and, but for the 
defection of some of the Massachusetts delegates, — Henry 
Wilson and others, who at that time were supporters of 
Mr. Webster, — he undoubtedly would have had it. It 
was true of him, as of so many public men in our coun- 
try, that his worst foes were those of his own political 
household. As it was, he lacked but eight votes in the 
Convention. Some of Mr. Webster's followers threw out 
an intimation afterward that a bargain had been made in 
Washington, before the Convention met, by which General 
Taylor was to be President, and " a man in Boston ' : Vice- 
President. At a meeting held at Worcester on the 15th 
of July, ex-Governor Lincoln presided, and made an 
earnest and eloquent speech, in the course of which he 
referred to this charge, and thus indignantly repelled it : 

" How is it proved that this ' bargain ' was made, that Gen- 
eral Taylor was to be President, and the ' man in Boston ' Vice- 
President ? Who heard the bargain ? Who testifies to the 
corruption ? It is assertion, and assertion merely. 



NOMINATION OF TAYLOR AND FILLMORE. 81 

"And who was ' the man in Boston ' referred to by the dele- 
gate ? One of her most honored citizens, who stands so trans- 
cendently above the possibility of anything base that no one 
dare assert that he could be a party even to an impropriety, — a 
man who by his munificence, his liberality of sentiment, by his 
patriotism and public virtue, has risen from the level of the 
people to a place where kings and emperors might be proud to 
stand: — he, gentlemen, honored as he is, is spoken of will, 
unceremonious distinction as a man in Boston." 

Mr. Fillmore received the nomination which should have 
fallen to Mr. Lawrence, and on the lamented death of 
General Taylor, in 1850, he succeeded to the presidency. 
Far better would it have been for the Southern people 
if a man like Mr. Lawrence had then come into power, — 
one who thoroughly understood the temper of the North, 
and who, while supporting the South in all its rights 
under the Constitution, would not have encouraged it by 
fatal compromises to its ultimate ruin. 1 

Mr. Lawrence manifested neither disappointment nor 
resentment when he was thus set aside at Philadelphia. 
" Instead of looking for pretexts, as many, not to say most, 
men would have done, for withdrawing from the canvass, 
or at least for looking coldly upon it, he was among the 
first to join in a call for a meeting of the Whigs in Fan- 
euil Hall, and to address them in the warmest manner in 
support of the regular ticket. In the same magnanimous 

1 Writing from London to his friend General Dearborn of Roxbury, under date 
of April 2, 1850, Mr. Lawrence said : " I hope soon to hear of the settlement of the 
slavery question. I entertain no fears for the safety of the Union, whatever may 
be the votes in Congress. The Union cannot be touched, — two millions of swords 
would leap from their scabbards if it should be seriously assailed by enemies from 
without or within. I have occasion to talk upon this subject to a class of men who 
would not be made unhappy to see our experiment of freedom fail. I tell them 
that our Government has strengthened with age, and at no period of its history 
since the adoption of the Constitution has the Union been so strong as at the 
present moment. There is a great amount of strong common-sense in the minds 
of the American people, and a little time only is required to develop it, and to 
rebuke the fanatical spirit in the North as well as in the South. The idea of dis- 
union, to my mind, is preposterous in the extreme. The eyes of all Europe are 
fixed upon our great and prosperous country. I hope and pray that we may be true 
to ourselves, and to those who preceded and transmitted to us our mighty heritage." 

G 



82 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

and patriotic spirit he visited the principal towns in the 
State, delivering addresses and using all his efforts to 
secure the triumph of the good cause." 

Mr. George Ticknor thus speaks of the failure to obtain 
the nomination : — 

" Mr. Lawrence came very near being nominated by the Whig 
party's Convention as their candidate for Vice-President of the 
United States, instead of Mr. Fillmore, on the same ticket with 
General Taylor. In that case he would, on the death of General 
Taylor, have become President of the United States, as did Mr. 
Fillmore. Mr. Lawrence lacked very few votes of this high 
success; and I shall never forget the quiet good humor with 
which, a few minutes after he knew that he had failed of the 
nomination as Vice-President, he came into my house, being my 
next door neighbor, and told me of it. 1 

The campaign of 1848 was not an easy one for the 
Whig leaders, especially in Massachusetts, where their 
party was divided not only on the issue of Mr. Webster's 
nomination, but on the question of slavery extension. 
Many of the old Whigs had given in their adhesion to the 
nominees of the Buffalo Convention (Martin Van Buren 
and Charles Francis Adams), and others who were not 
then ready to commit themselves to the Free Soil move- 
ment were lukewarm in their support of General Taylor. 
Mr. Lawrence, writing to Mr. Nathan Appleton on the 
11 th of August, said : " General Taylor is gaining every 

day. Tell I hope he is ready to lend us a helping 

hand. I am willing to spend and be spent in the cause, 
but it would cheer me very much to have the countenance 
of the officials of this State in promoting the great cause 
of conservatism. ... I am anxious to carry this State. 

1 hope will give us his positive influence. There 

are men who have such fear of doing wrong that they 
will not do right. There can be no half-way measures at 
the present time." Again, on the 30th of August: " We 

1 Ticknor's Life of Prescott, p. 407, note. 



THE MISSION TO ENGLAND. 83 

had a spirited meeting last night at the Treinont Temple. 
I spoke an hour, without preparation, which I hope did 
some good. I endeavored to place our political condition 
before the people in its true light. We have a great work 
to perform, and.it can be done with the support of those 
whose duty it is to encourage and take part in the cause 
which is of so much importance to the prosperity and 
happiness of us all." It was the Free Soil movement, 
however, which was to give the victory to the Whigs in 
1848, as it had been the Liberty party which contributed 
to their defeat four years before. 

When President Taylor formed his Cabinet he offered 
Mr. Lawrence first the secretaryship of the Navy, and 
then that of the Interior, but both were declined. Mr. 
Lawrence would probably have accepted the Treasury, for 
which he had a special fitness, but this had been promised 
to Mr. Meredith of Pennsylvania. The President soon 
after nominated him to the highest position abroad in 
the gift of the Government, the mission to England. 
For various reasons, Mr. Lawrence was in doubt as to 
whether he ought to accept this appointment, and but 
for the urgency of the President, and the persuasion of 
his intimate friends, he might have declined it altogether. 
In consultation with Mr. Everett, he quoted Sir Henry 
Wotton's "merry definition," that "an ambassador is an 
honest man sent to lie abroad for the Commonwealth," 
and said that if he thought there were the slightest basis 
in fact for the epigrammatic jest, he would not take the 
position. After full consideration, however, he did take 
it, and on the 26th of September, 1849, embarked for 
England in the steamship Europa, Captain Lott, with his 
wife and youngest daughter. 

This appointment was no less honorable to Mr. Law- 
rence than creditable to the sagacit} 7 of the President and 
his Secretary of State, Mr. Clayton. It was not altogether 
new in the history of diplomacy to send a distinguished 



84 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

merchant as envoy to a power of the first rank; but the 
instances had not then been so frequent, nor have they 
since become so, as to allow them to pass without com- 
ment. What Mr. Everett wrote in reference to Lord 
Ashburton's mission in 1842, may with equal appropri- 
ateness be remarked in connection with Mr. Lawrence's 
appointment in 1849 : — 

" Lord Ashburton was above the reach of the motives 
which influence politicians of an ordinary stamp, and unencum- 
bered by the habits of routine which belong to men regularly 
trained in a career. He possessed a weight of character at 
home which made him independent of the vulgar resorts of 
popularity." 

If the qualifications necessary for success in the diplo- 
matic service have not been generally overestimated in 
the United States, they have at least been greatly misun- 
derstood. What a man is, is quite as important a question 
as what he knows, in determining his fitness for a foreign 
mission. Wheaton, in his "Elements of International 
Law," says: — 



■ i 



" The art of negotiation seems, from its very nature, hardly 
capable of being reduced to a systematic science. It depends 
essentially on personal character and qualities, united with a 
knowledge of the world and experience in business. These 
talents may be strengthened by the study of history, and espe- 
cially the history of diplomatic negotiations ; but the want of 
them can hardly be supplied by any knowledge derived merely 
from books." * 

i A friend has called our attention to a curious passage in the Memoirs of 
Prince Eugene of Savoy, whose equestrian statue stands in front of the Imperial 
Palace in Vienna ; and it seems worth while to quote it, in connection with Mr. 
Wheaton's remark : "I walked about with some foreign minister, or I sat down in 
a corner with one of our own; and a communicative air made them speak. In 
revenge, I often beheld the stateliness of others repulse every one, and, hiding their 
mediocrity under a cloak of gravity and discretion, those gentlemen knew no one, 
neither public opinion nor private ; and, less secret than discreet, they were ignorant 
of all that passed. It is thus that sovereigns are often deceived, not being diffused 
through society." 



CHAPTER X. 

RESIDENCE IN ENGLAND.— THE MOSQUITO PROTECTORATE. -THE 
EXHIBITION OF 1851. — RETURN TO THE UNITED STATES. 

Mr. Lawrence's residence at the Court of St. James 
was the most brilliant part of his public career. He met 
in an admirable way the various requirements of his high 
and responsible position, and his mission was as success- 
ful in all respects as that of any of the statesmen or 
scholars who had preceded him. His personal and social 
qualities, which had contributed so greatly to his useful- 
ness in every sphere of influence in which he had been 
placed hitherto, now shone forth more conspicuously than 
ever. He dispensed a splendid hospitality at Cadogan 
House, Piccadilly, where he delighted to bring together 
the prominent men of his own country, as they came to 
London, and the leading men in politics and the profes- 
sions of Great Britain. He was able to appreciate and 
admire all that was valuable or venerable in other lands 
and in other forms of government, without weakening in 
the slightest degree his affection for his own country, 
or his preference for the political institutions under which 
he had been born and nurtured. He was thoroughly 
American in spirit and in sympathies, yet he was one of 
the most popular of men in English society. Nor was 
his popularity confined to society, so called. The Rev. 
Dr. James Hamilton wrote of him in a letter to his 
brother, Mr. Amos Lawrence, " No foreign minister is 
such a favorite with the British public." He was always 
at his ease, and always spoke with happy effect, whether 
on the platform of a philanthropic society, or before a 



86 ABBOTT LAWKENCE. 

chamber of commerce, or at a public dinner. At the 
same time his marked ability as a diplomatist was recog- 
nized and acknowledged by the men in public life with 
whom he came into close contact. Lord Palmerston said 
that the United States had never been more ably repre- 
sented in England than by him ; and the Duke of Wel- 
lington, who was his near neighbor in Piccadilly, and 
became his personal friend, expressed the opinion that 
so long as they continued to be represented by men such 
as he, there need be no fear of a rupture between the 
two countries. 

The first important question with which Mr. Lawrence 
had to deal on his arrival in London related to Central 
America, and to the ship-canal across the Isthmus, then 
projected. In obedience to instructions from Washington, 
he brought the subject to the notice of Lord Palmerston 
in November, 1849, and obtained from him an assurance 
that Great Britain did not design to occupy or colonize 
any part of Central America, and that she was ready to 
enter into a guarantee with the United States for the 
neutrality of the canal. But Mr. Lawrence, says Mr. 
Prescott, whose account of this negotiation we follow, was 
quick to perceive that these assurances would fail to an- 
swer the purpose, unless Great Britain would consent to 
abandon her shadowy protectorate over the " Mosquito 
Kingdom." He accordingly made this the subject of ear- 
nest conversation in more than one interview with the 
English Minister ; and he also argued in favor of the aban- 
donment of the protectorate, on the strongest grounds of 
policy, in a long and able communication to Lord Palmer- 
ston, under date of December 14, 1849. To this letter he 
received no reply ; and early in the following year, it being 
thought that the negotiation could be carried on with 
greater facility in Washington than in London, it was re- 
moved, for final adjustment, from the latter to the former 
capital. 



THE MOSQUITO PROTECTORATE. 87 

Meanwhile, Mr. Lawrence had been diligently engaged 
in preparing for his own Government a communication, 
afterwards printed by order of the Senate, the object of 
which was to trace to its origin the British claim to the 
exercise of a protectorate over the Mosquito Territory. 
In doing this he travelled over a vast field of historical 
research, from the first occupation of the territory by the 
Spaniards to its subsequent invasion by the English, and 
established, to the conviction of every unprejudiced mind, 
the position that Great Britain never possessed any legal 
right to the qualified dominion which she claimed as pro- 
tector of the Indians ; and that, if she had possessed it, 
this would signify nothing, since, by an express treaty 
with Spain, she had formally renounced such right. By 
a singular coincidence this state paper, which we con- 
sider of sufficient importance to give in full in the Appen- 
dix, was dated in London on the 19th of April, 1850, the 
very day on which the Clayton-Bulwer treaty was signed 
in Washing-ton. 

This latter instrument, confining itself to the simple 
object of a guarantee for a canal across the Isthmus, 
makes no provision for the Mosquito question, though by 
an incidental allusion it appears to recognize the exist- 
ence of a protectorate. Indeed it seems to have done 
nothing; more than carrv out the details of the arrange- 
ment to which Lord Palmerston professed his readiness to 
accede, in his first communication to Mr. Lawrence. But, 
as the latter foresaw, so important an element in the dis- 
cussion as the Mosquito protectorate then was could not 
be winked out of sight; and, as it appeared later, the ab- 
sence of this material link in the chain of the negotiations 
made the other provisions of the treaty of little worth. 

A gentleman then resident in London, and having per- 
sonal access to the best sources of information, writes : — 

" I have always regarded the removal of these negotiations to 
the United States as unfortunate. The relations between the two 



88 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

Governments were very delicate, when Mr. Lawrence took the 
question up. By his frankness, tact, and urbanity he had suc- 
ceeded in allaying British apprehensions ; and my opinion is that 
if he had had the whole conduct of the business, we should have 
got much better terms than we did. He could have brought 
influences to bear on the question which Mr. Clayton knew 
nothing of. Lord John Russell's Ministry was not strong, the 
public press (especially the ' Times ') were against it on the 
Mosquito question, and T think we might have got an explicit 
abandonment of the protectorate if Mr. Lawrence had been left 
free to exercise all these influences upon the Cabinet." 

The Clayton-Bulwer treaty has come prominently into 
notice once more, in connection with the project of M. de 
Lesseps for a canal across the American isthmus, the 
recent visit of that distinguished gentleman to this coun- 
try, and the diplomatic correspondence which has since 
taken place. A movement has been set on foot at Wash- 
ington to secure, if possible, its abrogation or modification ; 
and Mr. Blaine, while Secretary of State, indited a de- 
spatch to the American Minister in London with this object 
in view, which has been severely criticised both in this 
country and in England. The contention, however, now, 
is not with reference to the Mosquito protectorate, which 
during late years has almost ceased to be talked about, 
and the old claim to which Great Britain, we think, will 
not be likely to press anew, so much as to the joint stipu- 
lation on the part of the two contracting powers that 
they will together supervise and protect any canal or 
railway which may be constructed from the Atlantic to 
the Pacific Ocean through or over any part of the con- 
tinent between Tehuantepec and Panama. The treaty 
binds both parties " never to erect or maintain any forti- 
fications commanding, or in the vicinity of, any ship-canal, 
or to occupy or fortify or assume or exercise any domin- 
ion over Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito coast, or 
any part of Central America." It is now urged at 
Washington by some parties that this arrangement is in 



DEATH OF PRESIDENT TAYLOR. 89 

contravention of the Monroe doctrine, but it does not 
seem to have been so regarded by the statesmen of thirty 
years ago. 

President Taylor died on the 9th of July, 1850; and as 
soon as the intelligence reached London, on the ^Imd. the 
American Minister addressed a circular note, in beautiful 
and touching terms, to his countrymen then in England, and 
particularly to those of them in the consular service : 

"General Zachary Taylor, President of the United States, 
died at Washington on the 9th instant, after a very brief illness. 
This intelligence is too fearfully certain to permit me to await 
its official announcement before inviting 3-011 to join in the 
national sorrow. 

" Taught in infancy lessons of patriotism, accustomed in 
youth to the dangers of a frontier life, entering the service of 
his country in early manhood, distinguishing himself during a 
life of toil 03- successive victories gained under great disad- 
vantages, — had General Taylor died in the army, he would 
have left behind him the name of a brave soldier, cautious in 
council, firm in opinion, rapid in execution, of unquestioned 
integrity, humanity, and patriotism. A higher fame was re- 
served for him. Raised to the head of one of the powerful 
nations of the earth, he exhibited to the world, under circum- 
stances of rare trial, a sincerity, a prudence, and a moderation, 
combined with a firmness, a sense of justice, and a patriotic 
devotion to the honor and true interests of his country, which 
won for him an unlimited confidence at home, and a profound 
respect abroad. With a consciousness of the purity of his mo- 
tives, he sank into death, breathing the words, *• I am prepan d 
— I have endeavored to do my duty." 1 

'* I invite the Consuls and Vice-Consuls of the United States, 
and all others of my countrymen in the United Kingdom, to 
manifest their sympathy in this sad event, and share in the gen- 
eral grief it has caused. Our country has lost, in the hour of 
her need, a great and a good man. Let us hope that, while his 
memory endures, those who have the charge of our public 
affairs may emulate his patriotism, his integrity, his justice, and 
his self-forgetfulness ; and that our countrymen generaUy may 



90 



ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 



strive to imitate the modest self-reliance, the purity, and the 
kindness of heart which distinguished him in private life." 

Mr. Webster now became Secretary of State, and he 
and Mr. Lawrence carried on a private as well as an 
official correspondence with each other. We insert two 
of these private letters, which throw light upon the state 
of our foreign relations at that period. They discuss not 
only the Mosquito Question, but also the visit of Kossuth 
to the United States, and the aggressive spirit against 
Mexico then manifesting itself in the Southern States. 

Washington, December 29, 1851. 

My dear Sir, — I ought to have written you long ago to thank 
you for your private letter, accompanied by the memorandum of 
a conversation between you and Lord Palmerston, but incessant 
occupation has not allowed me time. What you said to His 
Lordship corresponds exactly with my own sentiments and opin- 
ions, and also, I believe, with those of the President. 

You will have seen the Message before you receive this, and 
that part of it which relates to our foreign relations will have 
shown you the ground on which I stand, with the entire concurrence 
and suppoi't of the President, and the other heads of depart- 
ment. You perceive how difficult it is to prevent these lawless 
invasions of other countries, but we shall do all we can. One of 
our great sources both of present difficulties and future dangers, 
Mexico, has a miserable government, is full of factions, and with 
finances utterly deranged. Her very weakness is threatening to 
us. I fear her whole frame of government may fall to pieces, 
inviting aggression and exciting cupidity in all quarters, ff I 
were confident such a line of policy could be steadily carried out 
by the United States government, I should think it deserved great 
consideration, — whether it would not be wise in us to uphold 
Mexico and save her government from disunion, for the reason 
that it is better for us that Mexico should be able to maintain an 
independent government, than that she should break to pieces 
and fall into other hands, even though those hands were our own. 
This wdiole subject gives me great uneasiness. 

I am very anxious to hear what Lord Palmerston says about 
the case of the Prometheus. Depend upon it, there will be no 



THE VISIT OF KOSSUTH. 91 

security for the continuance of peace in that quarter, until the 
British withdraw from Greytown. The notion that British offi- 
cers and agents hold that place only in behalf of the Mosquito 

King, and as his agents, strikes some people as being ridiculous, 
and others as being an offensive and provoking pretence. I am 
quite at a loss to know what importance there is in the retention 
of this miserable town by England, to justify all the hazards of 
collision which her continued possession of it will certainly entail 
ui)on her and us. When Sir Henry Bulwer went to England 1 
looked for his speedy return, and I thought wo should he aide to 
bring matters to a final and amicable settlement. I hope you 
lose no proper opportunity of urging the necessity of such a set- 
tlement upon the attention of Lord Palmerston. At the present 
moment, no part of our relations with England is so critical ami 
so ominous of evil as this petty business. 

You cannot fail to see how very probable it is that a more 
warlike administration than that which now exists is likely to 
come into power fifteen months hence. There is not only exist- 
ing among us a spirit favorable to further territorial acquisition, 
but a zeal also for intervention in the affairs of other states, 
of a fearful character and already of considerable extent. 

This spirit has gained great strength and vivacity from Kos- 
suth's visit and speeches. At one time the whole — or nearly the 
whole — city of New York seemed quite crazy. The fever how- 
ever is abating. It has met cooling influences from sober minds. 
North and South. I suppose it will be revived here, to sonic 
degree, as Kossuth comes here to-day, and a large section of the 
Democratic party intend taking advantage of his presence to 
bring the country, if they can, to the doctrine and the practice of 
intervention. I am sure you see, and I wish others might see, 
the expediency and importance of settling everything connected 
with England without delay. 

Yours always truly, 

Daniel Webster. 

The Hon. Abbott Lawrence, London. 

London, January 15, 1852. 

My dear Sir, — I have much pleasure in acknowledging the 
receipt of your private letter of the 29th December. 

That portion of the President's Message upon the subject of 
our foreign relations, to which you have alluded, corresponds with 



92 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

the views I have always entertained. You may have noticed 
that the British journals copied that passage, accompanied with 
favorable comments. 

I have looked with anxiety for a long time upon the love of 
conquest and spirit of acquisition manifested among us. Even 
marauding and piratical expeditions have been regarded with 
indifference by persons holding high positions in society. There 
is perhaps no other remedy for this growing evil than for honest 
men to speak out, on all proper occasions, upon the dangers of 
encouraging the people to transgress the laws. The integrity of 
the Union ought not to be perilled by demagogues and adven- 
turers. 

I am one of the hopeful citizens of the Republic ; and yet I must 
confess that I have never seen a time like the present, when it 
seemed to me so important that our statesmen should be men of 
character and ability, deeply impressed with the responsibility 
that rests upon them. Kossuth's extraordinary oratorical powers 
appear to have turned the heads of our people. How grave sena- 
tors can agree to the doctrine of intervention, with the likeness of 
Washington before their eyes, I cannot imagine. We have 
agitators enough of our own growth, without invoking the aid of 
foreigners to expound to us our political obligations. Yet I have 
much sympathy for Hungary and for Kossuth, but his visit to 
the United States can do neither himself nor us any good. 
There has been a want of discretion in his speeches which I 
regret ; he will find on his return to England that some of his 
sentiments (such as appealing from our government to the peo- 
ple as the " higher power," when the Senate laid upon the table 
the resolution of invitation) will produce a most unfavorable re- 
action against him. It is evident that we have arrived at a point 
in our history when all our wisdom will be required to prevent 
the acquisition of Mexico (and perhaps of other territory), and 
the adoption of the new doctrine of intervention. Our danger 
lies in our extraordinary increase of numbers, great prosperity, 
and in the consequent self-exaggeration of the people. It is quite 
time that we looked these matters in the face, and arrest if possible 
the spread of doctrines wdiich are subversive of every principle 
upon which good government is founded. 

You have mentioned the unhappy condition of Mexico. It 
would seem to be almost in a state of dissolution. Our own in- 



THE CENTRAL AMERICAN QUESTION. 93 

terests arc clearly that it should maintain its independence. 
I do not know what we can do to enable it to regain a sound 
government. If its troubles came from without, something might 
be done to aid it in resisting a foreign enemy ; but the enemy 
is from within, composed of its own people, lighting and in- 
triguing against each other. The interference of the United 
States would probably bring on war, but the jealousy of our 
people would not allow or submit to the conquest or colonization 
lit' that country by a foreign power. This whole question is beset 
with difficulties. We may not be able to keep out of Mexico, but 
I should deem it a great misfortune to have any political connec- 
tion with it, — and a dangerous blow aimed at our welfare, 
should it become an integral part of the Union. 

As regards our affairs with Great Britain, nothing remains 
unsettled but the Central American Question ; and I can assure 
you that there is quite as much anxiety in England to avoid all 
disputes with us, as there is in the United States to maintain the 
most amicable relations with England. I have lost no fitting 
opportunity to impress upon Her Majesty's Ministers the impor- 
tance of making some other provision for the Indians than that 
ik.w existing, and of giving up all British occupation on the Mos- 
quito Coast. If San Juan is abandoned, as it will be, the British 
may remove to Bluefields, or to some other point. It is for the 
interest of both countries that this unwise and absurd protecto- 
rate should come to an end. It has been so severely commented 
upon, and so much ridiculed by the press and by individuals, that 
I am convinced the present cabinet will be glad to get rid of it. 
I have never held any other language here than that of a total 
abandonment of all connection with the Mosquito Indians. This 
I told Lord John Russell when I last saw him, and endeavored 
to satisfy Lord Granville that we could not be certain of main- 
taining peace without it. Mr. Chatfield, with whom so much fault 
has been found, was recalled a few days ago. I do not entertain 
a doubt that you will bring the matter to a conclusion without 
much delay when you meet the minister from this country, who- 
ever he may be. I have requested Lord Granville to give him 
large powers. 

I am always sincerely yours, 

Abbott Lawrenck. 

The Hon. D. Webstek, Washington. 



94 



ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 



Another of Mr. Lawrence's important despatches related 
to the fisheries. In the summer of 1852 the reassertion 
of the " headland theory " by the Canadian Government, 
and the seizure of several American vessels charged with 
fishing within the three-mile limit, caused much bitter 
feeling in this country. The British Government sent 
out a fleet of ships to the scene of contention ; and so 
peremptory and menacing were the orders under which 
it sailed, that Mr. Lawrence, without waiting for instruc- 
tions, hastened to Lord Malmesbury, then Secretary for 
Foreign Affairs, and represented to him the danger to 
the peace of the two countries which must result from 
such an attitude. The time was indeed critical. Lord 
Elgin, then Governor-General of Canada, in an address to 
the merchants of Liverpool, said : — 

" A British admiral and an American commodore were sail- 
ing on the coast, with instructions founded on opposite conclu- 
sions ; and a single indiscreet act on the part of one or other of 
those naval officers would have brought on a conflict involving 
all the horrors of war." 

The modification of the British instructions was commu- 
nicated to Mr. Lawrence by Lord Malmesbury in a note 
dated "Foreign Office, August 13, 1852," as follows: — 



My dear Sie, — The Orders that are to go out to our Admi- 
ral, and of which I have given Mr. Crampton notice, are : — 

Not to interfere with the Magdalen Islands ; to consider the 
Bay of Fundy on the same footing as we placed it in 1845 ; 

To capture American fishing-vessels only under precisely the 
same circumstances as those which would have been acted upon 
of late years, and when manifestly infringing the treaty ; 

To exercise these instructions with the greatest forbearance 

and moderation. 

Yours sincerely, 

Malmesbuey. 



BRITISH LIGHT-DUES. ( .l", 

Mr. Lawrence's own words of comment on this note 
were : " This is as much as I could request, inasmuch as 
I acted without instructions, and I think all parties ought 
to be satisfied." By further negotiations, which the Presi- 
dent afterwards approved and confirmed, he prepared the 
way for the definitive settlement of the long-standing dis- 
pute, by the Marcy-Elgin treaty of 1854, — the Reciprocity 
treaty so called, — which, unfortunately, was abrogated 
by the action of the American Congress in 1865. 

Mr. Lawrence studied carefully and wrote very fully to 
his Government upon questions of a practical character, 
such as emigration, international postage, the currency, 
the condition of the agricultural and manufacturing pop- 
ulation of the United Kingdom, and other topics which 
would be likely to arrest the attention and awaken the 
interest of a merchant of large experience, representing 
one of the two great commercial nations of the globe at 
the Court of the other. Several of these papers were 
printed by order of the Senate, but the Department of 
State does not seem to have responded to them in a way 
likely to encourage such investigations and reports. Mr. 
Lawrence obtained permission from Washington to urge 
upon the British Government a modification of the Eng- 
lish light-dues system, under which American tonnage 
was and continues to be heavily taxed, while the coasts 
and harbors of the United States are lighted at the public 
expense, for the free use of the shipping of all nations. 
His letters on this subject give a clear and forcible pres- 
entation of the case from the American point of view. 
They were never satisfactorily answered, but they elicited 
from Lord Palmerston the admission that the policy of 
the American Government in this regard was a wise and 
liberal one, and that there was much plausibility in the 
argument that the expense of the coast-lights ought to be 
borne by the public instead of by the shipping interest. 
They were printed in England by vote of the House of 



96 ABBOTT LAWEENCE. 

Commons, on the motion of Mr. Hume. In communicating 
this correspondence to the Department at Washington, 
Mr. Lawrence rather complained that no notice had 
been taken of, and no interest had been manifested in, 
this question, which but for him would not then have 
been raised, and which has been allowed to sleep again 
for a quarter of a century since that time. When it shall 
come up for further consideration and final adjustment 
between the two Governments, the correspondence of 
1850-51, which has lately been published in blue-book 
form, will be found to throw much light on the subject. 

During Mr. Lawrence's residence in England the sub- 
ject of direct communication between the Irish coast and 
the United States was receiving much attention. The 
Irish emigration movement was then at its height, 1 and 
in order to facilitate it, as well as to expedite the mail 
service between the two hemispheres, various schemes 
were under consideration for a mail service between some 
one or more of the Irish ports and the American conti- 
nent. In the autumn of 1851 Mr. Lawrence made a tour 
through Ireland with Mrs. and Miss Lawrence (Mrs. 
Lowell), in order to examine these and other questions 
relating to Irish prosperity upon the spot. In a letter to 
the Mayor of Limerick, written after his return to Lon- 
don, he said : — 

" When in Ireland, I visited the harbors of Dublin, Galway, 
Limerick, Bantry, Cork, and Queenstown, all of which offer rare 
and safe accommodation for ships. Several other harbors, which 
I did not visit, have been favorably spoken of and reported on 
by persons competent to judge upon such questions. Since my 
return to London I have received various charts, maps, reports, 
etc. with reference to these harbors, all of which I have trans- 
mitted to the President of the Chamber of Commerce of the city 
of New York." 

i In 1851, 236,214 Irish immigrants arrived in the United States, a larger num- 
ber than in any year previously or since. During the period of Mr. Lawrence's 
residence in London the Irish emigration to the United States was nearly three 
quarters of a million. 



VISIT TO MANCHESTER. 97 

A few years later the Galway line was subsidized by the 
British Government to come to Boston ; but the project 
lacked all the elements of commercial success, and speedily 
failed. The problem has since been solved by the adop- 
tion of the harbor of Queenstown as a place of call for 
passengers and mails for all the Atlantic steamers sailing 
from and to Liverpool, and of Lough Foyle as a similar 
place of call for the ships sailing from and to Glasgow. 

The first international exhibition took place in London, 
in 1851. Mr. Lawrence evinced the deepest interest in 
everything connected with it, and his despatches to the 
Department of State show how anxious he was that his 
country should be properly represented in it. Before 
it was opened he made a visit to Liverpool and Man- 
chester, and at a meeting held in his honor in the latter 
city, in the Town Hall, he gave his views in reference to 
it in the following words : — 

"Mr. Mayor, you are all business men, and so am I when I 
am at home ; but here I have nothing to do but to speak, and 
I am very much afraid of taking up your time. I want to say 
a word upon another point, and that is the great industrial 
exhibition of 1851. I happen to be one of those who were con- 
sulted early in London upon that subject, and it struck me very 
forcibly, I believe at the very first, more as a moral question 
than anything else, and I embraced it with considerable zeal, 
and attended the first public meeting on the subject. I have 
been engaged in promoting the success of the exhibition from 
that time to this, and I beg leave to say that upon mature 
reflection, having seen a great many of my countrymen and a 
great many persons from the Continent, I do believe, speaking 
of peace and fraternal feeling among nations, and especially 
between the United States and Great Britain, this exhibition is 
to do more for the beneficent cause of harmony of feeling and 
good-will among the nations than anything that has occurred in 
modern times. Great fears have been expressed in some quar- 
ters in Great Britain, that it was to be an injury to England, — 
that you were to be beaten out of sight. This was an after- 
thought; for when it began to be talked about there were no 

7 



98 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

such fears, but latterly the newspapers have been crowded with 
articles on that point. Well, now, I look at it in this way: 
How are you to be beaten ? By whom are you to be beaten ? 
In design, in works of taste, I think you will be beaten, and I 
think you ought to be, because you are behind your neighbors. 
(Hear ! hear !) Yes ; but when you come to the great articles 
of necessity that the world must have, that you must send to 
every one of your colonies, that you must have here among 
yourselves, — take the manufactures of wool generally, the 
mixed articles of wool and cotton, and especially all cotton 
manufactures, in short, all the great articles with which the 
world must be supplied, — there is nobody who can come near 
you, no nation can come near you ; I am quite sure of that. 
Now my idea is, with regard to my own country, we have made 
some progress, as I before remarked, in the arts and in the 
application of science to art. I am aware that we can learn of 
you more than we can teach you ; at the same time I think that 
if my countrymen come over here with all their Yankee notions 
and the great variety of articles produced in the United States, 
you may get some hints that will be useful to 3 7 ou." 

At the close of the Exhibition Mr. George Peabody 
gave a dinner (October 27, 1851) at the London Coffee 
House, Lnclgate Hill, to the American gentlemen who 
had been connected with it, and to other distinguished 
guests, American and English. Among the latter were 
Earl Granville, the Chairman of the Royal Commission, 
Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer (afterward Lord Balling and 
Bulwer), Her Majesty's Minister at Washington, Sir 
Joseph Paxton of Chatsworth, Mr. Thomson Hankey, Jr., 
Governor of the Bank of England, Sir Charles Fox 
(of Fox & Henderson), Mr. Thomas Baring, M.P., Mr. 
(Sir) Curtis M. Lampson, and Dr. (Sir) Lyon Playfair. 
Among the American guests were Mr. Lawrence, Mr. 
Joshua Bates, Colonel Aspinwall, American Consul in 
London, Mr. Bancroft Davis, Secretary of Legation, Col- 
onel Bigelow Lawrence, Mr. Robert J. Walker, Mr. John 
Carter Brown, the Rev. Samuel K. Lothrop, Mr. Jonathan 
Mason, Mr. Russell Sturgis and Mr. Benjamin S. Rotch. 



THE EXHIBITION" OF 1851. 99 

Mr. Francis P. Corbin of Virginia, at the close of an 
excellent speech, proposed the health of the American 
Minister, which was warmly responded to by the com- 
pany, and Mr. Lawrence made the following reply : — 

" I feel, with deep sensibility, the nattering testimony just 
extended to me. I have not words to express my thanks, not 
only to my friend on my right, but to you, my countrymen, 
whom I see around me. 

" The invitation I received was to attend ' a parting dinner 
to the American gentlemen who have been connected with the 
Exhibition.' I am happy to find that our hospitable host, char- 
acterized with his usual good taste, has not confined this invi- 
tation to those of us who are native-born Americans, but that 
he has brought to us those who, although not of our nation, 
are of our kindred. We are all of the same origin, and speak 
the same language ; we have the same literature, the same 
religion, and the same of everything that makes the man. 

" Besides, there was a peculiar propriety in bringing to us the 
Alpha and the Omega of the Great Exhibition. We have here 
with us to-night the man who had the genius to plan a building 
such as the world never saw before, and such, perhaps, as we 
may never see again. We have also here to-night the man who 
had the courage to undertake and the skill and enterprise to 
execute that plan. 

" Our munificent host has also brought to us that illustrious 
nobleman, whose high position indeed claims our respect, but 
whose many virtues command our admiration and our love ; — a 
nobleman whose executive talent and power of combination 
enabled him, with his colleagues, to unfold before us, in perfect 
order, the products of the labor of all the world. I allude, 
gentlemen, to the Right Honorable the Earl Granville. 

" And here, my countrymen, I must make my acknowledg- 
ments, and present my thanks, as your Minister, to the Royal 
Commissioners, for the ability, urbanity, skill, and judgment 
with which they executed their trust. I know something of 
the history of this Exhibition. I remember the day it was 
opened ; I was present when it was closed. I watched it 
from its inception to its completion, from its completion to its 
dissolution ; and I must be permitted to say that the order, 



100 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

the exactness, and the perfection with which every depart- 
ment was managed have never been excelled, and perhaps 
in rely equalled, whether in the marshalling of armies or fleets, 
the construction of buildings, or the arrangement of men. 
More than six millions of human beings entered and came out 
of the Crystal Palace without the occurrence of any serious 
accident ; and I am sure you will agree with me, when I say 
that, from the Prince himself down to the policeman, no one 
received aught but civility and kindness. 

" I cannot omit to congratulate you, Mr. Peabody, and our 
countrymen present, upon the gratification we experience in 
having here to-night our excellent friend, Her Majesty's Envoy 
to the United States, Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer, whose mission 
has tended so much to produce harmony and concord between 
the two nations. Long may he continue to represent this great 
country in the United States ; long may he continue to promote 
those feelings of amity and good-will which he has been so 
successful in encouraging ! 

" And now, I hope I may be pardoned if I allude to the 
peculiar circumstances under which we entered the Exhibition. 
Invitations Avere sent to the world at large. The nations of 
Europe made provision for defraying the expenses of their con- 
tributors. They sent here, also, men who, in their respective 
countries, were eminent in science and skill, that they might 
observe and learn whatever might be beneficial to their country- 
men ; and the expenses of these men were defrayed by their 
respective governments. 

" But, gentlemen, every man from America came here on his 
individual account and risk ; he paid his own expenses, and 
often paid for the transportation of his contributions ; and then 
freely gave his time in attending to the exhibition of his prod- 
ucts. It is due to you that the world should know under what 
circumstances you were here. 

" And yet, gentlemen, while I think we have come out of the 
Exhibition vastly better than we went into it, I cannot but have, 
after all, a feeling of regret at what we have done, — or, rather, 
at what we have left undone. I cannot but feel a regret, when 
I think that having accomplished so much with the small means 
employed, what could we not have done, if the people of the 
United States, in the majesty of their strength, had put forth all 



me. peabody's dinner. 101 

their power ! I have said that we came out of the Exhibition 
better than was at first anticipated. At the same time, I 
ought to state, for the information of those who never were 
in the United States, that our contributions to the Exhibition 
gave but an imperfect idea of the progress that has been 
made in the arts, and in the application of the sciences to the 
useful arts, in the United States. I have often attended the 
State exhibitions at Philadelphia, New York, and Boston ; and 
I hesitate not to say that I have seen at those places contribu- 
tions far superior to those we have had here from the United 
States. But, after all, I am convinced that the Exhibition will 
be productive of great good to our country. The social inter- 
course which you have had with the world generally, and with 
the people of the United Kingdom particularly ; the opportuni- 
ties 3^011 have enjoyed of a widely extended observation of the 
actual condition of the sciences and mechanical arts of the whole 
world, — these advantages are worth tenfold the trouble and ex- 
pense and time which you have so freely bestowed upon this 
Great Exhibition. 

" If some are, perchance, disappointed in the distribution of 
medals, and are disposed, for the moment, to forget how arduous 
were the labors of the Jury, to such, if any there be, I would 
say: Gentlemen, you and many others can well afford to be 
without the Council-medals, since you are left in possession of 
your invaluable inventions. Of what consequence is it to Mr. 
Hobbs that he should have a Council-medal for a lock, which 
after a thorough trial was returned to him unpicked, while it is 
well known that every other lock that has been offered to him 
has yielded to his instruments ? Is it of material consequence 
to Colonel Colt that he should have a Council-medal for a 
fire-arm whose name and fame have already reached the utter- 
most parts of the earth, and which is acknowledged, I believe, 
to be the best peacemaker yet presented to mankind ? Would 
Mr. St. John's regulator of the compass come more surely into 
notice or general use, if a Council-medal had been awarded to 
it? or would Mr. Thompson's soap, which washes as well in salt 
as in fresh water — which will wash out tar and all other stains 
except moral stains — would this soap be more valuable if it had 
received a first medal ? Nor do I deem it of material conse- 
quence to Mr. Erickson, and to others whom I might mention, 



102 



ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 



if time permitted, whether he or they obtained the Council's 
medal for their contribution to science. The world will adopt 
everything that is of real value. 

" I am sure, gentlemen, that you will take leave of this coun- 
try, — you who are to depart to-morrow, as well as those who 
are soon to follow, — impressed with the high value of the Ex- 
hibition to our country, and in the full belief that you have 
received every consideration that could have been expected, 
under the circumstances in which we have been placed. I must 
say, that I think we should all feel under the deepest obligation 
to His Royal Highness Prince Albert, and to all who promoted 
the objects of the Exhibition, as well as to the great body of the 
British people, for their uniform courtesy and kindness during 
our sojourn in their land. 

" Another great advantage arising from the Exhibition to 
which I must allude is, that it has exhibited to the world the 
encouraging prospect that the time has come when labor, digni- 
fied labor, must be respected; that the time has come when 
there must be a just appreciation of those who are the creators 
of wealth ; and that it is to the efforts of the laborer that every 
country must be mainly indebted for its glory and its power. 

" But, gentlemen, there are two kinds of labor, intelligent 
and unintelligent labor ; the former is that which gives char- 
acter to a nation, and, in giving character, gives wealth and 
power also. Hence, I say, encourage the education of all the 
people, for, by so doing, you will promote the elevation of 
the character, and give that dignity to the founders of wealth 
which is so justly their due. 

" And now, gentlemen, I come to the very agreeable duty 
assigned to me ; and that is, to propose the health of a nobleman 
who has devoted his time, for many months, to the promotion 
of the objects of the Great Exhibition. I know of no one who 
has done more, and few who have done so much. I believe, 
in a word, that Lord Granville has done his whole duty. 
He has occupied a most difficult position ; but his patience, his 
perseverance, and his uniform courtesy have enabled him to 
reconcile differing interests ; and, in pursuing his straightfor- 
ward, manly course, my right honorable friend has generally 
been able to have his own way ; and that way, I am happy to 
say, is always the right way. I give you, gentlemen, with all 



mi;, peabody's dinner. 103 

my heart, ' The Royal Commissioners,' connecting- with the 
toast the name of the Right Honorable the Karl Granville." 

Lord Granville was received with loud cheers, and made 
a graceful speech, in the course of which he said : — 

" It is exceedingly gratifying to see sitting hy the side of each 
other the Minister of the United States to this country and the 
Minister for this country to the United States. In the case of 
both these gentlemen, I believe they have made it their business 
to become acquainted not only with the respective countries to 
which they are accredited, but also with all classes of the inhabi- 
tants of the country ; and in making that acquaintance, I believe 
that they have gained for themselves the esteem and respect of 
all whom they have met. 

Sir Henry Bulwer's health was proposed by Mr. Robert 
J. Walker. Sir Henry, always felicitous in his after-dinner 
speeches, was never more happy than on this occasion, and 
at one point he aroused the enthusiasm of the company to 
the utmost by a skilful introduction of dramatic effect : — 

" But well I know, gentlemen, it is not merely the solemn 
cathedral or the stately tower, nor even the venerated tomb of 
the noble and the great, which, as you wander through this 
island, will stay your steps. 1 see you there, in the quiet vil- 
lage, the country churchyard, pondering over some half-effaced 
epitaph, tracing on some moss-covered monument the names 
and lineage of your English forefathers, whose dust, commingling 
with Old England's soil, gives me, my clear sir [turning to Mr. 
Lawrence and taking his hand], the right, whilst I clasp your 
hand as that of a friend, to claim it as that of a brother." 

He thus referred to the recent vacht race off Cowes : — 

' ; Whilst we are thus passing in review the evidences of your 
genius which are to be found in Hyde Park, what is that small 
hark which I see lightly skimming along the sea? I think I 
recognize an old acquaintance; and sure enough, on the very 
day that I land at Liverpool, I learn that that little vessel, which 



104 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

I had seen but lately sleeping quietly in the waters of New 
York, has, after gallantly crossing the great Atlantic, given the 
go-by to the whole of our yacht squadron ; and this, too, before 
the very eyes of the sovereign, whom we are sometimes proud 
enough to call the Queen of the Ocean. However, gentlemen, 
you know I always speak my mind ; and therefore I tell you, 
that here, if you gave us one lesson we also gave you another. 
I remember a story of Mr. Fox, who, when asked, it is said, one 
day, what he thought of a young man who had just made a 
capital first speech, replied, 'I don't like to judge any one after 
a success, I like to see what a man is after a .failure.' Now, I 
say, gentlemen, that, on the occasion to which I am alluding, 
we should decidedly have satisfied Mr. Fox ; and I beg you to 
remember that if you then showed us how to win a race, we 
showed you how to bear the loss of one." 

Mr. Bancroft Davis, Mr. Lawrence's Secretary of Lega- 
tion, who spoke later in the evening, took occasion to 
say : — 

" If I were free to do so, I should bear testimony to the great 
labors of Mr. Lawrence in behalf of the Exhibition, with which 
no man is better acquainted than myself. Happily, I am not 
restrained from speaking of the constant interest which my 
friend Colonel Bigelow Lawrence has felt in the success of our 
■exhibitors, and the steadiness with which he has worked to that 
end since he first landed in England. He will be gratefully 
remembered by all Americans who have visited London this 
year." 

Mr. Peabody, and his countrymen who sat at his table, 
had good reason for congratulating themselves upon the 
honors with which American inventors and exhibitors 
were distinguished when the final awards were announced. 
Patriotic Americans resident or visiting in London had 
felt very solicitous as to the result, so far as their own 
country was concerned, even after the opening of the 
Exhibition ; and they were in like measure full of a par- 
donable pride and joy when they witnessed a degree of 
success beyond anything they had dared hope for. To 



RETUEX TO TI1E UNITED STATES. 105 

this success Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Peabodv had contrib- 
uted largely, by the manifestation of an unwavering inter- 
est and by generous contributions of time and money. 

Mr. Joshua Bates also should be mentioned in this con- 
nection, as one who was always prompt to participate in 
any effort designed to promote the honor and the interest 
of his native land. He and Mr. Lawrence had long; been 
on the most intimate terms, and they were much together 
at this time. Mr. Bates used often to call at Caclogan 
House in the morning as he was driving to the City ; and 
Mr. Lawrence was a frequent visitor at Sheen, where dur- 
ing a severe illness he was most kindly cared for by Mr. 
and Mrs. Bates. 

A year later, Mr. Lawrence sought and obtained per- 
mission from the President to lay down his mission and 
return home. Under date of May 14, 1852, he addressed 
the following: letter to President Fillmore : — 



© 



" When I had the honor of accepting the appointment of 
Minister Plenipotentiary to this Court, it was understood by 
your lamented predecessor that I should have the privilege of 
returning to the United States whenever it suited my con- 
venience. I have now to ask that favor, and desire to resitm 
my mission on the first day of October next, early in which 
month I propose to come home. In case you should conclude 
not to fill my place by the appointment of a Minister, I should 
leave Mr. Davis as Charge* d'Affaires, who is in all respects 
qualified to perform the duties that devolve upon this Legation ; 
and it affords me satisfaction to bear my testimony to the ability 
and fidelity with which he has discharged his official duties, and 
of his fitness to manage the affairs of this Mission." 

The President replied, acceding to his request, but 
urging him to remain for another year if he could do so 
consistently with his own sense of duty. Mr. Lawrence 
wrote of this reply, that it was very kind in its expressions, 
and' that it would show to his grandchildren that after 
three years of service abroad he had received from his 



106 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

Government an honorable discharge. This letter was 
probably lost in the great fire. He had separated himself 
from his vast business interests as long as he felt it to be 
right to do so, while a longer residence at the Court of St. 
James offered no special opportunities for further useful- 
ness, as it could have added nothing more to his reputation, 
personal or official. The period covered by his mission 
had been a very interesting one in Europe. The Repub- 
lic in France had been overthrown, and the Second Em- 
pire had been built up on its ruins. Throughout the 
Continent a strong reactionary spirit had asserted itself as 
against the political principles which had been partially 
successful in 1848. In England, one or two ministerial 
crises and a general election had taken place, Sir Robert 
Peel had died in 1850, and the Duke of Wellington in 
September, 1852. The death of another leading states- 
man, Lord George Bentinck, had occurred earlier, in 
1848 ; Mr. Disraeli had then succeeded to the Conserva- 
tive leadership in the House of Commons, and in the 
winter of 1851-52 had taken hisfh office under Lord 
Derby as Chancellor of the Exchequer. 

Mr. Lawrence's last despatch to the State Department 
was dated September 30, 1852, and in it he thus spoke 
of the purpose by which he had been actuated in all that 
he had endeavored to do : — 

" I was especially charged by the President, on leaving the 
United States, to cultivate the most friendly relations with the 
Government of the United Kingdom. This has been my constant 
aim. To this end I have mingled freely with people of all 
ranks, and I can say with truth, in closing my connection with 
the Legation, that the relations between the United States and 
Great Britain have never in my judgment been so cordial, or on 
so firm a basis of good understanding, as at the present moment. 
I have found every administration of this Government animated 
with a desire to preserve this happy state of things, and every 
class vying with every other, in manifestations of respect and 
good will." 



A PUBLIC DINNER PROPOSED. 107 

Embarking with his family at Liverpool in the steam- 
ship Niagara, Captain Stone, for Boston, he reached 
home on the 28th of October, 1852, just after the death 
of Mr. Webster, and, immediately on landing, hastened to 
Marshfield, to assist in paying- the last tribute of respect 
to the departed statesman. His fellow-citizens were 
anxious to testify their appreciation of his distinguished 
service abroad by giving him a public dinner, but this 
honor he positively declined in view of Mr. Webster's 
recent death. During the summer Mr. Webster had bad 
under consideration a request from President Fillmore to 
succeed Mr. Lawrence in London, but for various reasons 
he had decided not to avail himself of it. 

The correspondence in reference to the public dinner 
was as follows : — 

Boston, October 19, 1852. 

Dear Sir, — We have the honor to address you in behalf of a 
number of our fellow-citizens, who have appointed us a committee 
for the purpose of welcoming you on your return among us, and 
to invite you to meet them at a public dinner, or in such other 
mode as you may prefer. 

They are desirous of testifying their sense of the manner in 
which you have performed the duties of the important station to 
which you were appointed by the Government of the United 
States, as the representative of the nation at the Court of Saint 
James, and which, as we believe, has met the unqualified ap- 
proval of your fellow-countrymen. 

They have witnessed the dignity, courtesy, and good feeling 
which have characterized your intercourse with the government 
and people of the nation to which you were accredited, and which 
has tended to strengthen the bonds of peace and amity so hap- 
pily existing between the two countries. 

They arc well aware of your unremitting attention and hos- 
pitality to your countrymen who have visited Europe in such 
numbers, under the existing facilities of intercourse, and of the 
able manner in which you have, on all proper occasions, done 
justice to the character of our institutions and people. 

The mercantile portion of our community have seen with 



108 ABBOTT LAWEENCE. 

great satisfaction your attention to our increasing commerce. 
They feel that you have, by the able manner in which yon have 
fulfilled your mission, done honor to the profession of a mer- 
chant, and to our good city of Boston. 

We therefore, in pursuance of our instructions, invite you, in 
behalf of our fellow-citizens, to meet them at a public dinner, at 
such time as may suit your convenience, or in any other mode 
which may be more agreeable to you. 

We have the honor to be, with the highest respect and esteem, 
your friends and very obedient servants, 

Nathan Appleton. Geo. Baty Blake. 

Eobert G. Shaw. Wm. Appleton. 

F. Skinner. Francis C. Lowell. 

L. W. Tappan. James W. Paige. 

Wm. Sturgis. Samuel Hooper. 

To the Hon. Abbott Lawrence. 



Boston, November 6, 1852. 

My dear Sirs. — Upon my arrival in Boston last week I had 
the honor to receive your communication of the 19th ultimo, in- 
viting me to meet my fellow-citizens at a public dinner, or in such 
other mode as I might prefer. 

I am deeply grateful for the honor which you propose to confer 
upon me, and I cannot adequately express my sense of the value 
which I place upon the approval, by my fellow-citizens, of the 
manner in which I have discharged the duties of my diplomatic 
mission. 

That approval itself amply compensates me for the labors and 
zeal with which I claim to have represented the Republic at the 
Court to which I was accredited. I am grateful also that you 
recognize the earnestness of my endeavors to cultivate feelings 
of social regard between the people of the United States and the 
government and people of the United Kingdom, for these I deem 
the most important incidental duties of my high office. 

I have mingled freely with various classes of people in Great 
Britain and Ireland, and have uniformly been treated with the 
utmost consideration and kindness. While, however, cherishing 
relations of friendship and mutual good-will with a kindred race, 
I have constantly sought to maintain the honor and to promote 



A TRIBUTE FROM THE ENGLISH PRESS. 109 

the best interest of our own country, and it gives me the high- 
est satisfaction to believe that at no former period have our in- 
ternational relations with the parent country been in a more 
satisfactory condition than at the present time. 

Although under ordinary circumstances it would afford me 
great pleasure to accept your invitation, yet I esteem it my duty to 
decline it, in consequence of the melancholy loss so recently sus- 
tained by our city and our common country. A few days subse- 
quent to the date of your letter the United States were deprived 
by death of their greatest statesman ; and the insignia of mourn- 
ing, which meet our eyes in every direction, justly attest the deep 
sorrow, which pervades all classes of our people, for the national 
bereavement. 

At such a season of general grief, I should appear to be want- 
ing in respect for the dead, and in consideration for the living, 
were I to accept a festive entertainment as a testimonial of the 
services of which you are pleased to speak so kindly. 

In the belief that the feelings which have prompted my de- 
cision will find a full response in your own and the hearts of 
those whom you represent, I have the honor to be, with senti- 
ments of very great respect, your obliged friend, and obedient 
servant, 

Abbott Lawrence. 

To Messrs, Nathan Appleton, Robert G. Shaw, and others. 

From the remarks of the English press on the return 
of Mr. Lawrence to the United States we will take, as a 
fair sample of the whole, a few sentences from an article 
in the " Army Despatch," which was copied into the 
" Boston Daily Advertiser " of October 30, 1852 : — 

"... Suffice it to say that both America and England owe 
Mr. Lawrence a deep debt of gratitude. He has done more 
perhaps than any American living to unite the two countries in 
the bonds of friendship. ... If he have mixed with our aris- 
tocracy he has but taught them to respect the greatness of 
America. Let it be remembered that he has equally addressed 
himself to our middle and working classes. Let not his visit to 
Ireland be forgotten, where he played no agitator's part, but, in 
fulfilling the mission of his country, contrived, as few others 



110 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

would oi' could have done, to do kindly service at the same time 
to England. We believe that this last act was — by conduct at 
once decided and friendly, but by stepping somewhat beyond the 
usual rules of frigid, diplomatic etiquette — to save England and 
America from the great curse of a rupture. We have reason to 
know that his active and timelv remonstrance and warning in- 
duced the British Government to stay a rash hand and curb an 
ill-advised measure. When Mr. Lawrence goes he will deserve 
the regrets of one country and the welcome of another." 

The journey through Ireland here referred to had been 
almost like a royal progress, but this allusion to it requires 
some qualification. A friend of Mr. Lawrence, residing 
in London at the time, from whom we have already quoted, 
gives the following explanation : — 

" I think the writer in the ' Army Despatch ' exaggerates 
when he says that any advice of Mr. Lawrence induced the 
British Government to stay a rash hand. I believe the truth is, 
that the Government was disturbed by the demonstrations made 
in Ireland; but that Mr. Lawrence's tact gave them a turn, 
which deprived them of political significance, and his subsequent 
conversations with Ministers in London allayed all feeling. 
Ireland was, at that time, still excited by the events of 1848; 
and movements were constantly made for the pardon of the 
political convicts. Smith O'Brien, one of these, was a near 
connection of Lord Malmesbury, who became Foreign Minister 
in 1852." 

From the words of welcome addressed to Mr. Lawrence 
on his arrival, by the newspaper press, we select the fol- 
lowing paragraphs, taken from an article which appeared 
in the " Boston Atlas" of November 4. 

" The decease of Mr. Webster, and the press of political mat- 
ter incident upon the near approach of the presidential election, 
have prevented us from noticing, in a manner worthy of the man, 
the return of the Hon. Abbott Lawrence to his home after a res- 
idence of more than three years in England, where he held the 
post of American Minister, the highest official appointment held 
by an American abroad. We arc glad to know that Mr. Law- 
rence returns to his home in good health, and we know also that 
his old friends and fellow-citizens are glad to greet him as of 




A TRIBUTE FROM THE AMERICAN PRESS. HI 

old, and welcome him back to his home. Mr. Lawrence has won 
high honor by the admirable manner in which he has discharged 
his official duties. He was without doubt the most popular Min- 
ister we have had to represent us abroad for many years. We 
have frequently, during his absence, heard him spoken of in the 
kindest manner by American gentlemen, from different sections 
of the Union, who have met him in England. 

" Mr. Lawrence has a true American heart, lie is an Ameri- 
can in all his feelings and hopes ; and he represented truly, in all 
its parts, the interests of his country. He has been liberal in his 
principles, liberal in his household. No American abroad has 
ever found him deficient in any qualification becoming his station, 
or regardless of the rights and interests of the people whom he 
represented. ... By the last steamer we have received a num- 
ber of papers of different shades of English politics, in several 
of which there are kind notices of the returning Minister. Differ- 
ing on many questions, they agree in regard to Mr. Lawrence, 
and class him among the most able and popular diplomatists our 
nation has sent abroad. 

" Mr. Lawrence was fortunate in the selection of his secretary, 
Mr. Davis of Worcester, of whose courtesy and kindness we 
have frequently heard mention, and whose abilities as a writer 
and speaker have been often called into requisition. No doubt 
his many friends in Worcester will give him a hearty welcome 
home. Nor can we withhold our expression of regard for, and 
our cordial welcome to, Colonel Bigelow Lawrence, whose connec- 
tion with the embassy has given opportunity for the display of his 
many excellent qualities of head and heart. We were hoping 
that he would have been continued abroad as secretary to the 
new Minister, however much we should have missed him at home. 
The experience which he has had, and the popularity he has gained 
among Americans who have visited London during his sojourn 
there, would have made his appointment most acceptable." 



CHAPTER XI. 

INTEREST IN THE CAUSE OF EDUCATION — THE LAWRENCE 

SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL. 

Mr. Lawrence's character, in all respects that of the 
pure New England type, was peculiarly so in the love 
and zeal which he always manifested in the cause of popu- 
lar education. At the jubilee celebration of the Lawrence 
Academy in Groton in 1854, he said : — 

"The men who had achieved our independence were not 
unmindful of the education of their children. They were poor 
in purse but rich in public spirit, justly believing that civil 
liberty could not be maintained without education, religion, and 
law. These veterans set themselves to work to lay the founda- 
tion of an academy, which was accomplished after much trial 
and tribulation. And we, who have enjoyed the blessings 
resulting from the wisdom of our fathers, are assembled here 
to-day to commemorate the event, and to do homage to those 
founders." 

Not only was he indebted to this academy for such 
education as he had received, but he had become so im- 
bued with the spirit of its founders, as set forth in the 
words we have quoted, that in all his subsequent course 
it exercised a controlling influence over him. We have 
an illustration of this in the letters written by him when 
he established the Lawrence prizes in the High and Latin 
Schools in Boston. 

In the first of these letters, addressed to the Hon. Wil- 
liam J. Hubbard and bearing date August 14, 1844, he 
wrote : — 









INTEREST EN" THE CAUSE OF EDUCATION. 113 

" My son informed me, on my return from Newport last 
evening, to which I return this afternoon, that you had called 
for the purpose of asking a donation from me to aid in creating 
a fund which will produce ninety dollars per annum, to be dis- 
tributed in medals, books, etc., among those pupils of the High 
School who ma} r excel in the various branches of learning 
taught in that valuable institution. 

"I beg to present to you my thanks for the opportunity 
afforded me of bearing testimony to the high estimation I have 
always placed upon all our public schools, and the interest I 
still entertain for their prosperity. 

" The system of Free Schools in New England I deem one 
of our chief glories ; and upon the preservation of that system 
rests in a great measure the permanency of our civil and 
religious institutions. 

" I have not time to say more, but beg to place at the dis- 
posal of the Committee the sum of two thousand dollars, which 
I presume will be ample to carry out the plan you have 
indicated." 

A year later, July 26, 1845, a similar sum was given to 
the Latin School, and we make an extract from the letter 
which accompanied it, as follows : — 

" The Latin School of this city is an institution on which our 
fellow-citizens of the present clay look with pride and satis- 
faction, and which has been cherished with affection and con- 
fidence for more than two centuries. I consider this school 
as the fountain of classical education among us, from which 
streams of knowledge flow that enrich the mind and elevate 
the New England character. I have a desire to offer to my 
fellow-citizens a testimonial of the respect I entertain for classi- 
cal knowledge, and especially for this school, which has been 
and is now so nobly sustained by them. I beg therefore, 
through you, to present to the city of Boston the sum of two 
thousand dollars, the interest of which, as nearly as may be, 
shall be expended annually forever (under the direction of the 
sub-committee having charge of the Public Latin School of 
Boston) in prizes for the best performances in the various 
branches of literature and science taught in that institution. 



114 ABBOTT LAWEENCE. 

and in such other rewards for excellence and industry as may 
be thought best calculated to promote the object and true in- 
terests of education, and to keep alive a spirit of generous 
emulation and literary ardor through the several departments 
and all the different grades of said school. 

" It is not my wish that the whole of said interest should be 
expended in prizes for abstract or comparative excellence, which 
would naturally fall to the most talented and most advanced 
scholars, but that a portion should be appropriated to the 
reward of those whose industry and diligent application mani- 
fest a desire to improve, though the least gifted by nature, and 
also a portion for good conduct in general, embracing moral 
rectitude and gentlemanlike deportment." 

Mr. Lawrence's educational benefactions and the spirit 
which prompted them furnish a happy illustration of the 
following verses from Whittier's well-known poem in- 
scribed to Massachusetts : — 

" The riches of the Commonwealth 
Are free, strong minds and hearts of health ; 
And more to her than gold or grain, 
The cunning hand and cultured brain. 



'O 



' ' For well she keeps her ancient stock, 
The stubborn strength of Pilgrim Rock ; 
And still maintains, with milder laws 
And clearer light, the Good Old Cause ! 

" Nor heeds the sceptic's puny hands, 
While near her school the church-spire stands ; 
Nor fears the blinded bigot's rule, 
While near her church-spire stands the school." 

When building the city of Lawrence, the school, the 
library, and the church were kept in mind almost 
equally with the mill. Mr. Lawrence sent a contri- 
bution to the Congregational Church, — the first, we 
believe, to be erected, — and he assisted in the endow- 
ment of the Franklin Library. In a letter enclosing a 



INTEREST IN THE CAUSE OF EDUCATION. 115 

thousand dollars to this institution, which also received 
a bequest of five thousand dollars at his death, he said 
(July, 1847): — 

" It is no less the duty than the privilege of those who pos- 
sess influence in creating towns and cities to lay the foundations 
deep and strong. Let the standard be high in religious, moral, 
and intellectual culture, and there can be no well-grounded fear 
for the result." 

He could not discuss the tariff question with Mr. Rives 
without giving expression to a somewhat similar thought. 
In one of his letters he wrote : — 

" All intellectual culture should be founded upon our Holy 
Religion. The pure precepts of the Gospel are the only safe 
source from which we can freely draw our morality." 

Certainly he had a right to speak on these subjects 
with authority, as he did with boldness, yet with charac- 
teristic courtesy, on more than one occasion during his 
residence in England. 

In his speech at the Town Hall in Manchester, from 
which we have already quoted, and which was, in fact, an 
off-hand, almost conversational address, he said : — 

" I am here in the midst, probably, of a population of four 
hundred thousand persons, the wealthiest city, perhaps, that 
exists in the world ; and amidst all your property and with the 
increase of population here, I hope you will not deem it imper- 
tinent if I say to you, Remember, gentlemen, remember to 
ascertain, almost from day to day, whether your exertions in the 
cause of education and the inculcation of sound morals and 
religion keep pace with this prosperity. I did not rise, gentle- 
men, to lecture you upon your duties; but I know the human 
heart so well, that in reaching on from day to day and from hour 
to hour for something which does not always do us good, we are 
too apt to forget (you are not alone, — we all forget) the higher 
duties we have to perform ; and one point on which I hope you 
may learn something from us is that of the universal education 
of the people of Great Britain. I hope I am not trespassing 






116 



ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 



[No, no ; go on] : I do not know whether it is proper for me or 
not ; but I shall take the liberty to say here that in connection 
with Great Britain's influence and power in the scale of nations 
I hold it to be one of the essential conditions upon which, half 
a century hence, you are to maintain that position among the 
nations, that you should educate your people. You should now 
set about it, this day ; it is every man's business. It is not the 
business of the eminent prelate [the Bishop of Manchester x ] 
any more than it is yours, Mr. Mayor, or any more than it is 
that of any man who hears me ; it is the duty of every Christian 
man to promote the education of the whole people : and if the 
whole of the people are educated in England you may bid 
defiance to all the tyrants in the world." 

We have reserved until the last, in this division of our 
subject, our reference to the foundation of the Scientific 
School at Cambridge, Mr. Lawrence's largest and most 
widely celebrated benefaction. Mr. Everett, in his inau- 
gural address as President of Harvard University (April 
30, 1846), announced the project of a separate scientific 
school, which had for some time previously been a sub- 
ject of discussion, in the following language : — 

" It is a question well worthy to be entertained, whether the 
time is not arrived when a considerable expansion may be given 
to our system, of a twofold character : first, by establishing a 
philosophical faculty, in which the various branches of science 
and literature should be cultivated beyond the limits of an aca- 
demical course, with a view to a complete liberal education ; and 
secondly, by organizing a school of theoretical and practical 
science, for the purpose especially of teaching its application to 
the arts of life, and of furnishing a supply of skilful engineers 
and of persons well qualified to explore and bring to light the 
inexhaustible natural treasures of the country, and to guide its 
vast industrial energies in their rapid development." 

Not long after this, Professor Horsford, of New York, 
was called to the Rumforcl Professorship in Cambridge, 



1 The Eight Kev. James Prince Lee, D.D. 



THE LAWRENCE SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL. 117 

and upon entering on his duties he submitted to the Cor- 
poration a plan for the erection and furnishing of a labo- 
ratory for instruction in chemistry and its application to 
the arts, at an estimated cost of fifty thousand dollars. 
This plan the Treasurer, Mr. Samuel A. Eliot, laid before 
Mr. Lawrence, who, after due consideration, responded 
to the appeal which had been made to him by the offer 
of a sum large enough to cover the entire contemplated 
expenditure. The very able and interesting letter which 
communicated this noble purpose w r as as follows : — 

Boston, June 7, 1847. 

My dear Sir, — I have move than once conversed with you 
upon the subject of establishing a school for the purpose of teach- 
ing the practical sciences, in this city or neighborhood; and 
was gratified when I learned from you that the Government of 
Harvard University had determined to establish such a school 
in Cambridge, and that a professor had been appointed who is 
eminent in the science of Chemistry, and who is to be sup- 
ported on the foundation created by the munificence of the late 
Count Rumf'ord. 

For several years I have seen and felt the pressing want in our 
community (and, in fact, in the whole country) of an increased 
number of men educated in the practical sciences. Elemen- 
tary education appears to be well provided for in Massachu- 
setts. There is, however, a deficiency in the means for higher 
education in certain branches of knowledge. For an early clas- 
sical education we have our schools and colleges. From thence 
the special schools of Theology, Law, Medicine, and Surgery 
receive the young men destined to those professions ; and those 
who look to commerce as their employment pass to the count- 
ing-house or the ocean. But where can we send those who 
intend to devote themselves to the practical applications of 
science? How educate our engineers, our miners, machinists, 
and mechanics? Our country abounds in men of action. Hard 
hands are ready to work upon our hard materials ; and where 
shall sagacious heads be taught to direct those hands? 

Inventive men laboriously reinvent what has been produced 
before. Ignorant men fight against the laws of nature with 



118 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

a vain energy, and purchase their experience at great cost. 
Why should not all these start where their predecessors ended, 
and not where they began ? Education can enable them to do 
so. The application of science to the useful arts has changed, 
in the last half-century, the condition and relations of the world. 
It seems to me that we have been somewhat neglectful in the 
cultivation and encouragement of the scientific portion of our 
national economy. 

Our country is rapidly increasing in population and. wealth, 
and is probably destined in another quarter of a century to 
contain nearly as many inhabitants as now exist in France and 
England together. 

We have already in the United States a large body of young 
men who have received a classical education, many of whom 
find it difficult to obtain a livelihood in what are termed the 
learned, professions. I believe the time has arrived when we 
should make an effort to diversify the occupations of our peo- 
ple, and develop more fully their strong mental and physical 
resources, throughout the Union. We have perhaps stronger 
motives in New England than in any other part of our country 
to encourage scientific pursuits, from the fact that we must here- 
after look for our main support to the pursuit of commerce, manu- 
factures, and the mechanic arts; to which it becomes our duty, 
in my humble judgment, to make all the appliances of science 
within our power. We inherit, and are forced to cultivate, 
a sterile soil ; and what nature has denied should be, as far 
as possible, supplied by art. We must make better farmers 
through the application of chemical and agricultural science. 

We need, then, a school, not for boys, but for young men 
whose early education is completed either in college or else- 
where, and who intend to enter upon an active life as engineers 
or chemists, or, in general, as men of science, applying their 
attainments to practical purposes, where they may learn what 
has been done at other times and in other countries, and may 
acquire habits of investigation and reflection, with an aptitude 
for observing and describing. 

I have thought that the three great practical branches to 
which a scientific education is to be applied among us are, 1st. 
Engineering ; 2nd. Mining, in its extended sense, including 
Metallurgy ; 3rd. The invention and manufacture of machinery. 



THE LAWRENCE SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL. 119 

These must be deemed kindred branches, starting from the same 
point, depending in many respects on the same principles, and 
gradually diverging to their more special applications. Mathe- 
matics, especially in their application to the construction and 
combination of machinery ; Chemistry, the foundation of knowl- 
edge, and an all-important study, for the mining engineer, and 
the key to the processes by which the rude ore becomes the 
tenacious and ductile metal ; Geology, Mineralogy, and the 
other sciences investigating the properties and uses of materials 
employed in the arts ; Carpentry, Masonry, Architecture, and 
Drawing, — are all studies which should be pursued, to a greater 
or less extent, in one or all of these principal divisions. 

To establish such a school as I have endeavored to describe 
in connection with the University, and under the care and gen- 
eral guidance of its Government, requires buildings with suitable 
lecture-rooins and philosophical apparatus, with models and 
plans, and a place for their deposit and safe-keeping, together 
with a cabinet where every description of wood, ores, metals, 
etc., may be deposited for the use of the students. Without the 
above appliances the professors would be workmen without 
tools. The University has already appointed Mr. Horsford 
Ilumford Professor, who proposes to give instruction upon an 
enlarged plan in the science of Chemistry. I have often heard 
Professor Horsford spoken of in terms of high commendation, 
and as in all respects competent to take charge of this impor- 
tant department of science, and to bring out the most favorable 
results. The testimony rendered at home to Mr. Horsford's 
capacity has been very agreeable to me, and had satisfied me 
that the selection made by the Government of the College was 
fortunate ; but I have lately learned, in addition to the high char- 
acter given him by his friends here, that the great practical 
chemist of the age, Liebig, has given his most unqualified tes- 
timony to the ability and fidelity of Professor Horsford, who 
was the pupil of Baron Liebig for two years. 

I deem it of the highest importance, and, in fact, essential, 
that none but first-rate men should occupy the professors' chairs 
in this school. Its success depends upon the characters of the 
instructors. They should be men of comprehensive views and 
acknowledged talents, possessing industry and integrity, with 
an enthusiastic devotion to the great interests of science. They 



120 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

should love their profession, and work in it day by day. Such 
teachers will soon gather around them a large number of 
pupils. 

To cany out this course of education in its practical branches, 
there should be the most thorough instruction in Engineering, 
Geology, Chemistry, Mineralogy, Natural Philosophy, and Nat- 
ural History. Chemistry is provided for ; and in the last two 
branches instruction might perhaps be given b}^ the present 
College professors. In addition to these, it would be necessary 
to obtain the services, at stated periods, of eminent men from the 
practical walks of life. The Law School is taught by distin- 
guished lawyers of the highest reputation ; the Medical School, 
by distinguished physicians. In like manner, this School of 
Science should number among its teachers men who have prac- 
tised and are practising the arts they are called to teach. Let 
theory be proved by practical results. 

To defray the expenditures, means must be procured for the 
erection of suitable buildings (not including dwelling-houses), 
the purchase of apparatus, furniture, etc., and provision must 
be made for the comfortable support of the professors and other 
teachers employed. For this purpose let the students be in- 
vited freely from all quarters, at a moderate charge for tuition. 
Let the numbers be only limited by the size of the lecture- 
rooms, and I cannot entertain a doubt that a large revenue 
would be derived from tuition fees. I would suggest three 
permanent professors, namely, one of Chemistry (already ap- 
pointed), one of Engineering in its various branches, and one 
of Geology. The support of the first is for the present time 
provided for. For the other two, a moderate fund must be ob- 
tained, as a nucleus of a further sum which should be added to 
it, to make the capital equal to that of the Rumford Professor- 
ship. The professors in this school should depend, to a con- 
siderable extent, upon fees ; it is the best guarantee to exertion 
and fidelity, and the permanent prosperity of the institution. I 
will therefore further suggest that each of the above profes- 
sors shall receive, after all ordinary expenses shall have been 
paid, one half of the tuition fees, till they amount to a sum an- 
nually not exceeding three thousand dollars, including their 
stated salaries ; and that the Government of the College pay 
such sums to other teachers, whether temporary or permanent. 



THE LAWRENCE SCIENTIFIC SCIIOOL. 121 

as they may deem expedient, and that the other half of the said 
tuition fees be reserved and added to any fund that may be 
hereafter contributed to establish and found the two professor- 
ships before mentioned. 

I have now, my dear sir, given you a brief and very imper- 
fect sketch of such a school of sciences as I believe the condition 
of our extensive and growing country requires, and you will 
ask how the means are to be obtained to carry out the plan, 
when we shall soon have an appeal made to our liberality, as 
well as to the sense of our best interests, to contribute a large 
sum of money for the purpose of finishing the Astronomical 
Department so auspiciously commenced in Cambridge. This 
department of science has already engaged the public sympa- 
thy, and will, I doubt not, be taken up at an early day, and 
placed in an independent and useful position. I cherish a wish 
to see the Observatory, the telescope and every instrument 
required to prosecute the heavenly science, ready for use, and 
do not intend to interfere with the claims the world has on our 
community to accomplish this great and important object. Nor 
do I mean to occupy the ground of another branch of science 
that will, I suppose, at a future time, present strong claims upon 
the public bounty. I allude to Natural History, now in charge 
of that accomplished naturalist, Dr. Gray. I wish to see all 
these branches of science prosecuted with vigor, and moving 
forward in perfect harmony at Cambridge. 

I therefore propose to offer, through you, for the acceptance 
of the President and Fellows of Harvard College, the sum of 
fifty thousand dollars, to be appropriated as I have indicated in 
the foregoing remarks. The buildings I have supposed, with- 
out having made estimates, could be erected, including an ex- 
tensive laboratory, for about thirty thousand dollars. If so, 
there will remain the sum of twenty thousand dollars ; and I 
suggest that whatever sum may remain, after the erection and 
furnishing of the buildings, should form the basis of a fund 
which, together with one half of the tuition fees, till the amount 
shall yield the sum of three thousand dollars annually, shall be 
equally divided between the Professor of Engineering and the 
Professor of Geology, and be made a permanent foundation for 
these professorships. The object is to place the three professors 
in this school in the same pecuniary situation. I beg to suggest, 



122 ABBOTT LAWEENCE. 

further, that the whole income of this school be devoted to 
the acquisition, illustration, and dissemination of the practical 
sciences forever. 

The details, however, and conditions of this donation may be 
hereafter arranged between the Corporation and myself. I now 
leave the whole subject in the hands of the gentlemen compos- 
ing the Corporation, in the hope and faith that the plan may be 
adopted and executed with as much expedition as may be con- 
sistent with economy ; and that it may prove honorable to the 
University and useful to the country. 

I pray you, dear sir, to believe I remain 

Most faithfully your friend, 

Abbott Lawrence. 

To the Hon. Samuel A. Eliot. 



Soon after the receipt of this donation by the University, 
Professor Agassiz, of Switzerland, was invited to the chair 
of Zoology and Geology, and at a later period Lieutenant 
Eustis, of the Army, was called to that of Engineering. 
At the Commencement of 1848 the Corporation conferred 
on the institution the name of the Lawrence Scientific 
School. During the following year a laboratory, unsur- 
passed even in Europe at that time, in its conveniences 
for practical instruction, was erected and furnished ; and 
in 1850 a building was constructed for the temporary 
accommodation of the departments of Zoology, Geology, 
and Engineering. 

At his death Mr. Lawrence gave the institution a further 
sum of fifty thousand dollars, which greatly strengthened 
its position, and further increased its capabilities for 
usefulness. 

Our account of the foundation of the Lawrence Scien- 
tific School would be incomplete if it failed to refer to 
the great pleasure given to his elder brother by Mr. 
Lawrence's liberal donation. This brother, less vigor- 
ous in health, had taken pride in Abbott's energy and 
prowess, even when as a boy in their native town he was 



THE LAWRENCE SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL. 123 

the guiding spirit in breaking through blockading snow- 
drifts, and in all youthful sports. He had watched over 
him with almost parental solicitude on his entrance upon 
city life and during his business apprenticeship ; later, he 
had taken him to his confidence as a partner, and had 
soon learned to lean upon him in the early maturity of 
his powers, and in the gradual ripening of his experi- 
ence ; he had followed him in his public life thus far with 
the intensest satisfaction ; and when his purpose, as com- 
municated in the letter to the Treasurer of Harvard Col- 
lege, became known to him, he was prompted to write a 
note, which will always stand as a beautiful memento of 
the tender affection which subsisted between the brothers, 
and of the hearty and appreciative sympathy with which 
each regarded the good words and works of the other. 
The note was as follows : — 

Wednesday Morning, June 9, 1847. 

Dear Brother Abbott, — I hardly dare trust myself to speak 

what I feel, and therefore write a word to say that I thank God 

I am spared to this day to see accomplished by one so near and 

dear to me this last best work ever done by one of our name, 

which will prove a better title to true nobility than any from 

the potentates of the world. It is more honorable and more to 

be coveted than the highest political station in our country, 

purchased as those stations often are by time-serving. It is to 

impress upon unborn millions the great truth that our talents are 

trusts committed to us for use, and to be accounted for when 

the Master calls. This magnificent plan is the great thing which 

you will see carried out if } r our life is spared ; and you may 

well cherish it as the thing nearest your heart. It enriches your 

descendants in a way that mere money can never do, and is a 

better investment than any you have over made. 

Your affectionate brother, 

Amos. 

To Abbott Lawrence. 

In recognition of Mr. Lawrence's hearty and generous 
interest in the cause of education, as well as of his valu- 



124 ABBOTT LAWKENCE. 

able public services, Williams College, in 1852, and Har- 
vard College, in 1854, conferred on him the honorary 
degree of Doctor of Laws. We may add in this connec- 
tion that at the time of his death he was a member 
of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the 
American Antiquarian Society, the Massachusetts Histor- 
ical Society, the New England Historic Genealogical 
Society, and the Board of Overseers of Harvard College. 



CHAPTER XII. 

RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. — INTEREST IN ENGLISH CONGREGATION- 
ALISM. — SICKNESS AND DEATH. — ESTIMATE OF HIS CHAR- 
ACTER AND WORKS — PUBLISHED WRITINGS. — PORTRAITS. — 
CONCLUSION. 

The keystone in the symmetrical and well-rounded 
character which we have endeavored to describe was a 
reverent faith in the Christian religion as an unerring 
standard for personal endeavor, and as an unfailing power 
for the regeneration of society. The spontaneous utter- 
ance in one of the letters to Mr. Rives, which we have 
already quoted, may well be repeated, as being evidently 
a deep conviction of the heart, which exercised a constant 
and controlling influence upon the life : — 

" All intellectual culture should be founded upon our Holy 
Religion. The pure precepts of the Gospel are the only safe 
source from which we can freely draw our morality." 

When Mr. Lawrence came to Boston, in 1808, he joined 
the congregation in Brattle Square, then under the minis- 
terial care of the Rev. Joseph Stevens Buckminster, of 
which his brother Amos was a member ; and he continued 
to be a constant worshipper and a faithful parishioner in 
the same church, under the successive pastorates of Mr. 
Buckminster, Mr. Everett, Dr. Palfrey, and Dr. Lothrop, 
until his death. He became a communicant at or about 
the time of his marriage in 1819. During his residence 
in London as American ambassador he and his familv 



126 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

attended regularly the Scotch Church in Crown Court, of 
which the Rev. Dr. dimming was minister. This excel- 
lent and highly gifted clergyman, known chiefly in the 
United States in connection with his millenarian views, 
was, for many years, and until his retirement from the 
pulpit not long since, one of the most popular preachers in 
the metropolis, and one of the most eloquent platform 
speakers of the clay. He inscribed one of the editions 
of his celebrated "Apocalyptic Sketches" to Mr. Law- 
rence, saying in the dedication : — 

" My publishers inform me that they have been requested to 
issue an edition of this volume in America. I regard this as an 
opportunity of expressing a conviction, shared and felt by the 
good and great of this country, how much they appreciated 
your presence in London as the representative of your magnifi- 
cent nation, and how deeply — I may add universally — they 
regretted your departure. We never had so popular and so 
esteemed a Minister from America, or one who has done so much 
to leave lasting and elevated impressions of his countrymen. 

" I have, perhaps, a greater reason for dedicating this work 
to you. You were a stated worshipper within the walls of this 
church in which it is my privilege to minister ; and of all the 
varieties of class within its walls, you were not the least known, 
esteemed, and respected. 

" I state these facts as in some degree an apology for this 
dedication. I do not expect that } t ou will agree with all I have 
written in this volume ; but you know so well that I am one 
with you in all essential truths, that you will easily pardon any 
difference you may discover in subordinate matters." 

While in London, Mr. Lawrence became much inter- 
ested in the work of the Rev. John Waddington, pastor of 
an ancient Pilgrim church in Southwark. It was claimed 
for this church that it had been formed in 1587 or 1588, 
and fully organized by the choice of Johnson as pastor, 
and Greenwood as teacher, in 1592 ; also that, its mem- 
bership having been scattered by the bitter persecution 



AN ANCIENT CONGKEGATIONAL CHURCH. L27 

of the time, it bad been brought together and reorganized 
in 1616 by Henry Jacob, who had previously been a 
minister of the established order. We believe that the 
original church was removed to Amsterdam, and that 
only a small remnant of it afterward became a part of 
the church organized in 1616. Be this as it may, the 
Southwark church had an interesting history, and when 
Mr. Lawrence arrived in England, in 1849, it had just 
lost its meeting-house, by the lapse of a long lease, and 
Mr. Waclclington was seeking the help of English Non- 
conformists, and of the descendants of the Pilgrims in the 
New World, in the erection of a new house of worship. 
Mr. Lawrence gave his hearty sympathy to this object, 
and addressed a letter to Mr. Waddington, dated 138 
Piccadilly, London, 22nd April, 1851, from which we 
quote two or three paragraphs : — 

" I have read with much pleasure the papers you were kind 
enough to send me, respecting the efforts you are now making 
to erect a Congregational church to the memory of the Pilgrim 
Fathers. In common with most of my countrymen, I entertain 
the most profound and sincere reverence for the memory of the 
band of heroic Christians who — in the face, in the Old World, 
of neglect if not of oppression, and in the New, of terrific 
trials, of countless dangers, of death from cold, from starvation, 
and from a treacherous foe — founded a Christian colony which 
has now grown into one of the great nations of the earth. If 
that nation has proved to the world that religious freedom and 
religious faith may flourish together, or that perfect liberty and 
perfect law are not incompatible, I attribute it, in no slight 
degree, to the deep and permanent influence which the prin- 
ciples of Brewster and Robinson, Carver and Bradford, and 
their little Commonwealth, have had upon its character. 

" It seems superfluous to speak of this little community of 
men and women (noble women, too), which has now become one 
of the admirations of the world, and which gathered within its 
ranks as great, I believe, if not a greater amount of Christian 
faith, fortitude, endurance, and hope than was ever found of 
equal numbers on earth. The Rock of Plymouth, where they 



128 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

finally made their home, has become our Mecca, to which we 
annually, on the wintry anniversary of their landing, make a 
pilgrimage to renew our vows of fidelity to the principles of our 
forefathers, and offer up our thankful devotions to their and our 
God for the civil and religious liberty he has permitted us to 
inherit from them. Long may that rock remain, — a monu- 
ment to teach my countrymen so to conduct the affairs of the 
present, that the future may not be unworthy of the past we 
have received. 

" The influence of their example is not confined to the land 
where it was displayed. Europe has begun to study their prin- 
ciples, and I think I see their influence extending in this 
country. I am proud when I see efforts like the present to 
extend among the British people a just knowledge of these 
English men and women. You, too, may well be proud to be 
the pastor of a church where they preached and worshipped, 
and may appeal without fear to our brethren, both in England 
and throughout the world, to come forward and erect a church 
in commemoration of an event, the effects of which, already 
deeply felt, are destined probably to influence the world more 
than any other in modern history." 

It was the purpose of Mr. Lawrence, on his return to 
the United States, to bring this matter prominently before 
the various historical and religious societies, but many 
circumstances intervened until his death to prevent his 
doing all that he had wished. Later, Mr. (afterwards 
Dr.) Waddington made a visit to this country, and in 
Boston was cordially received by Mrs. Lawrence, Mr. 
James Lawrence, Dr. Blagden, Dr. Lothrop, Dr. Kirk, 
and other influential Congregationalists. In his volume, 
" The Hidden Church," in which the letter above referred 
to appears in full, he expresses (p. 296) his sense of obli- 
gation to Mrs. Lawrence, in the following words : — 

" The pen must be restrained in reference to matters of private 
interest ; but, in the event of the ultimate accomplishment of the 
object, it should be known to all who are specially concerned, 
that, but for the magnificent kindness of Mrs. Lawrence, the 
feeble hands into which the undertaking fell must have relin- 






LAST ILLNESS. 129 

quished their grasp. From personal regard to the memory of 
the Pilgrims, and with relative sympathy, kindred with that of 
Lady Franklin in another object, Mrs. Lawrence gave the timely 
aid which prevented the defeat of a purpose rendered so sacred 
in her estimation by the letter just quoted." 

Mr. Lawrence lived less than three years after his 
return from London. He held no public position, but 
his time and thought were, as always, largely given to 
political and philanthropic questions. He vigorously 
opposed the new State constitution of 1853, which was 
rejected by the people in the autumn of that year. He 
foresaw the speedy breaking up of the Whig party, and 
expressed his regret that it had failed to take such a 
stand, in opposition to slavery extension, as the country 
had expected and required from it. Had he lived only 
a few months longer, he would have identified himself 
with the new Republican party, and would have taken 
his jdace among its leaders. To this party, very early 
in its history, those who inherited his name heartily at- 
tached themselves. But his own earthlv activities were 
soon, too soon, to be brought to a close. In the autumn 
of 1854 he had a return of the disease which had so 
severely prostrated him in Washington thirteen or four- 
teen years previously ; and although his strength rallied 
somewhat as the winter advanced, his friends felt that 
there was much occasion for anxiety about him. 

Mr. Prescott, writing to Lady Lyell, Nov. 4, 1854, 
speaks of having spent " a very quiet month at old 
Pepperell," where Mr. Lawrence had stayed two days 
with him, and goes on to say: — 

" But poor Lawrence went from us to Groton to pass a few 
days, and while there had a bad attack of — I don't know Avhat, 
nor the doctors either — great pains in the chest, pressure on the 
head, and insensibility. Yet they do not think it apoplectic 
in its character, but arising from a disturbance of the liver, to 

f) 



130 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

which he has been subject. Any way, it is very alarming. It 
is the third attack of the kind he has had in six weeks, and 
it makes all his friends 'guess and fear' for the future. He is 
now on a very careful regimen, and pays little attention to busi- 
ness or anything that can excite him. His loss would have 
been a great one to this community, and it certainly would 
be inestimable to his family. There are few whom I should be 
more sorry to part with, for besides good sense and large prac- 
tical information, he has such a genial nature, with such frank 
and joyous manners as are not often found among us cold- 
blooded Yankees. I would not have you think from all this 
that he is at the point of death. On the contrary, I have just 
met him in the street, and looking very well. But his constitu- 
tion is shaken." 

In another letter several months later (June 17, 1855), 
Mr. Prescott, writing to the same friend, mentions Mr. 
Lawrence's serious illness, and adds : — 

" It is the old trouble, chiefly of the liver. A fortnight since, 
as I walked with him round the Common, I told him he was 
losing ground, and should go to Europe. I went in and saw his 
wife, and it was arranged before I left that he should take pas- 
sage for England the 20th of June. That night he became very 
ill, and has been ever since in bed. He is now slowly mending, 
and, if well enough, will embark probably early in July ; I 
should not think, however, before the middle of it. He just 
sent me from his sick-bed a scrap of paper, simply stating that 
' eighty years ago, June 17th, his father and my grandfather 
fought side by side on Bunker Hill,' — a stirring reminiscence 
for a sick-bed." 

The summer of 1855 was a trying and wearisome one, 
both for the sufferer and for those who attended him ; but 
says Mr. Prescott in his Memoir : " During the long period 
of his confinement his sufferings served only to show the 
sweetness of his disposition. The circumstances which 
filled those around him with wretchedness, and with 
apprehensions they could ill disguise, had no power to 



LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 131 

disturb bis serenity. He loved life. No man bad greater 
reason to love it, for be bad all that makes life valuable. 
Biu\ as bis hold loosened upon it, no murmur, no sigh of 
regret, escaped bis lips; while be bowed in perfect sub- 
mission to the will of that Almighty Father who bad ever 
dealt with him so kindly. As bis strength of body dimin- 
ished, that of bis affections seemed to increase. He ap- 
peared to be constantly occupied with thoughts of others 
rather than of himself; and many a touching instance did 
be give of this thoughtfulness, and of bis tender recollec- 
tion of those who were clear to him. The desire of doing 
good, on the broadest scale, clung to him to the last. Not 
two weeks before his death he was occupied with arrang- 
ing the plan of the model bouses for the poor, for which 
be made so noble a provision in bis will. ... He was 
dying with everything around him to soften the bitterness 
of death, — above all, with the sweet consciousness that 
be had not lived in vain. On the 18th of August, 1855, a 
few months before be had completed his sixty-third year, 
he expired, and that so gently that those around could 
not be sure of the precise moment when his spirit took 
its flight." 

The tidings of Mr. Lawrence's death made a deep 
impression upon the community in the midst of which he 
had lived so prominently and so usefully for more than 
forty years. A meeting of his fellow-citizens was con- 
vened in Faneuil Hall to take proper notice of the event ; 
and the crowds of business men and others who were in 
attendance at the unusual hour of noon, and their evident 
sense of public and personal loss, testified to the high 
position of respect and esteem which he had held among 
them. The mayor (Dr. Smith) called the meeting to 
order, and the chair was taken by Mr. William Sturgis, 
who had been associated with Mr. Lawrence in the 
pioneer party, ten years before, which determined the 
site of the present city of Lawrence. Speeches were 



132 



ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 



made by Mr. Winthrop, Mr. Everett, Mr. J. Thomas 
Stevenson, and others; and the writer of these pages, 
who was present, well remembers the sympathetic response 
which they awakened in those who listened to them. Mr. 
Winthrop was undoubtedly correct when he said that 
Boston had then hardly another life of equal value to 
lose. He said further : — 

" His name was a tower of strength to every good cause, and 
it was never given to a bad one. His noble bearing and genial 
presence seemed the very embodiment of an enlarged and en- 
lightened public spirit. If some one of the gifted artists of our 
land should desire hereafter to personify, on the breathing 
canvas or in the living marble, the mingled dignity and energy, 
the blended benevolence, generosity, and enterprise, which have 
characterized the good Boston merchant for so many genera- 
tions past, I know not how he could ever do so more success- 
fully than by portraying the very form which has just been laid 
low, and by moulding the very lineaments upon which death 
has now set its seal. I cannot think of him as he was among us 
but yesterday, without recalling the beautiful words of Edmund 
Burke in reference to his friend Sir George Saville : ' When an 
act of great and signal humanity was to be done, and done with 
all the weight and authority that belonged to it, this community 
could cast its eyes on none but him.' " 

Mr. Everett said, in closing : — 

" Such he was, — so kind, so noble, so complete in all that 
makes a man ; and the ultimate source of all this goodness, its 
vital principle, that which brought all his qualities into har- 
monious relation, was religious principle, — the faith, the hope of 
the gospel. This is no theme for a place like this, — other lips 
and another occasion will do it justice ; but this it was which 
gave full tone to his character, and which bore him through the 
last great trial." 

On the day of the funeral, flags on the public buildings 
and on the shipping of the port were displayed at half- 
mast, the bells of many of the churches were rung, and 






FUNERAL SERVICES. 133 

business was generally suspended while the services were 
in progress. These were held, first, privately, at the home 
in Park Street, and then in Brattle Square Church, which 
was filled to its utmost capacity. The interment took 
place in the beautiful burying-lot of the Lawrences, in 
the cemetery of Mount Auburn. 

The First Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry partici- 
pated in the funeral solemnities, and Mr. James Lawrence, 
in acknowledging the tribute thus paid to his father's 
memory, wrote to Colonel Chickering : — 

" Among all the evidences of the sympathy which have been 
exhibited by his fellow-citizens, none shall we remember with 
greater satisfaction than that offered by your command. I as- 
sure you that we appreciate it most deeply. My father was, as 
you know, a sincere friend to the military. He saw the necessity, 
and was sensible of the importance, of a well-organized militia, 
and never hesitated to sanction it, both by word and act. He 
had been a soldier himself. He was an original member of 
one of your companies, and served in its ranks during the War 
of 1812. I believe that nothing would have given him more 
satisfaction than to have anticipated that his mortal remains 
would be guarded to their last resting-place by the successors of 
his old companions-in-arms." 

On the Sunday succeeding Mr. Lawrence's funeral, his 
minister, the Rev. Dr. Lothrop, preached a commemora- 
tive discourse, in which he thus spoke of his religious 
character : — 

" The benevolence of Mr. Lawrence, and all the virtues of his 
life, had their strong foundation and constant nourishment in 
religious faith. He believed in his heart on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and received him as the promised Messiah and Saviour 
of the world. He was truly catholic in his feelings, loving all 
who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth; and he 
extended the helping hand of his charities to the enterprises of 
various Christian denominations." 

Mr. Lawrence had not waited until his death before 
making appropriations of his money for the benefit of 



134 ABBOTT LAWEENCE. 

others. He had been sowing the seed of charity for many 
a year, and he was gladdened by some of the fruits of 
his generosity which came to maturity while he was yet 
living to enjoy them. Professor Benjamin Peirce wrote 
to him from Cambridge during his last illness : — 

"I cannot conclude without congratulating you upon the 
success which has been at length attained ; and it must smooth 
the pillow of your sickness to feel that } r our noble endowment 
is beginning to return a hundredfold in blessings to the country 
and in benedictions upon its generous founder." 

The American Association for the Advancement of 
Science was in session at Providence at the time of Mr. 
Lawrence's death. Professor Alexander Dallas Bache 
made the announcement of " the decease of one of the 
most munificent patrons of science, the Hon. Abbott 
Lawrence of Boston," and added, — 

"After struggling for eighteen months with a mortal dis- 
ease, he at last yielded, and was gone. Having acquired 
in middle life an ample fortune, Mr. Lawrence, considering 
himself as the steward of the great property intrusted to 
him, liberally bestowed a large portion of his immense income 
upon works of charity and hospitality of the most munificent 
sort, and upon all objects connected with learning or with 
science, which were brought properly to his attention. It 
was in reference to the Lawrence Scientific School that he 
would particularly address the Association. Mr. Lawrence 
gave fifty thousand dollars as a foundation for that great in- 
stitution for the promotion of science and the diffusion of 
scientific knowledge. And if [said Professor Bache] I am not 
much mistaken, it will be found in his will that he has con- 
tinued after his death to that child such a provision as will even 
raise it to a greater degree of prosperity than it now enjoys. . . . 
The success of that institution Mr. Lawrence lived to see ; and 
recently one of our colleagues, one of those best calculated to 
judge of the successful carrying out of that plan, Professor 
Peirce, after having witnessed the examinations, being struck 
by the spirit of research and of true philosophy which was in- 



HIS INTEREST IN .SCIENCE. 135 

culcated there, addressed to Mr. Lawrence on his dying bed a 
letter, which must have gladdened him to the soul, — a letter 
telling him what the institution had done. Mr. Lawrence, it 
would be recollected by some members of the Association, was 
appointed by General Taylor Secretary of the Navy, lie felt 
compelled to decline it; but on visiting Washington to present 
his excuses to the President, he mentioned to him [Professor 
Bache] that one of his greatest regrets in declining was that he 
could not organize a plan for the nautical almanac which he had 
considered favorably ; ' but,' he added, ' I will speak personally 
to my successor, that this plan may be carried out by him as if I 
was Secretary of the Navy.' As Minister to the Court of St. 
James, the scientific men who visited Europe found always in 
Mr. Lawrence a kind friend, one who was ready to introduce 
them everywhere. His hospitality was well known to all ; and 
those members of the Association who had. not had the advan- 
tage of visiting Europe, but who wished to communicate with 
scientific men there, found from Mr. Lawrence facilities of every 
sort, and such as could only be had from one in his position. 
Such a man deserved that they should express regret at his 
loss." 

Mr. Samuel B. Ruggles spoke of the demand of the 
times for changed and improved methods in educational 
training, and insisted that physical science was now a 
positive necessity, in any enlightened scheme of instruc- 
tion ; he continued : — 

" In Abbott Lawrence the fundamental idea was made in- 
carnate, that men, to be men, must study not only words but 
things. . . . Mr. Ruggles said it had been his good fortune to 
hear from Mr. Lawrence full and animated expositions of his 
views on this all-important point; and it was but due to his 
memory now to bear testimony to the strong, manly sense, the 
practical sagacity, the noble and ample patriotism which he had 
carried into the whole subject." 

The Rev. Dr. Francis "YVayland said : — 

" It so happened that Mr. Lawrence was kind enough to 
converse with him on this subject when he was organizing this 



136 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

school ; and he was very much struck, as his friend Mr. Ruggles 
was also, with the largeness of his views, the clearness of his 
conceptions, and with the distinct knowledge that he had of 
what he was doing. He had a distinct object in view ; his ob- 
ject was to commence an institution which should be a tjpe of 
other institutions that should spread the blessings of science 
throughout our country in a way in which it had not before been 
spread abroad. He looked upon him [Mr. Lawrence] as a type, 
as Mr. Ruggles had said, of what was to be. He had set an ex- 
ample for men of wealth in this country. While Boston would 
always be proud of the name of Lawrence, there would be other 
Lawrences arising in New York, in Philadelphia, in all our 
large cities, — a train of men that would do honor to the country 
and to human nature. But however large this train might be, 
however noble and however magnanimous, they would ail date 
from the name of Lawrence, — they would all be the Lawrences 
of this country. He believed that no honor which they could 
confer would be really adequate to the noble, high-minded, 
patriotic effort of this man, whom all felt honored by claiming as 
their fellow-citizen." 

Professor Silliman, the oldest member of the Association, 
begged to offer his word of tribute to Mr. Lawrence, whom 
he was proud to claim as an old and valued friend ; he 
reminded the Association that, — 



j j 



"Upwards of twenty years ago, and while modern geology 
had to contend with bitter religious prejudices, Abbott Law- 
rence headed the list of intelligent citizens of Boston willing to 
examine the wonders of nature, and adore the wisdom of the 
Creator as exhibited in this material creation. Mr. Lawrence 
had a devout but fearless spirit, and did not hesitate to read the 
revelations of God, as well in His works as in Llis Word, — dis- 
playing in this, as in all his other traits, the breadth and freedom 
and liberalitj* of his manly nature." 

Professor Peirce spoke also ; and the Association by a 
rising vote, "and with evident emotion," adopted resolu- 
tions expressing regret at the death of Mr. Law 7 rence, and 
sincere condolence "with his bereaved family. 



ESTIMATE OF HIS CHARACTER AM) WORKS. 137 

Dr. Lothrop has recorded the following touching anec- 
dote in connection with one of Mr. Lawrence's private 
benefactions : — 

" At the close of the funeral services on Wednesday, while 
crowds were passing up this aisle to look upon the face of the 
dead, as I was standing here just beneath the pulpit, a gentle- 
man who I saw at once was a clergyman came, and, addressing 
me by name, asked if he might speak to me a moment. My 
reply was, ' Can you not choose some other time ? I cannot 
attend to any business amid this scene, and with that body lying 
there.' His answer was, rapid as he could speak, as if his heart 
was bursting for utterance, and with tears streaming down his 
cheeks : ' I must leave the city at two o'clock, and must speak 
now. It is of him who has left that body I would speak. 
Eighteen years ago I was a poor boy in this city, without means 
and without friends. I was a member of the Mechanics' Ap- 
prentices' Association. Mr. Lawrence came to one of our 
meetings. He heard me deliver an essay I had written. He 
spoke to me afterwards — inquired into my circumstances and 
character. I made known to him my wants and wishes. He 
furnished me with means to acquire an education ; when pre- 
pared, told me Harvard was best, but to go to what college I 
liked. I went to the Wesleyan University. He supported me at 
it. I am now a minister of the gospel in the State of New York. 
I saw his death in the paper, and a notice of his funeral to-day. 
I came on to attend it. He was my greatest benefactor, I owe 
it to him that I am a minister of the glorious gospel of Christ. 
I am not the only one he has helped thus. God will accept 
him. T felt that I must say this to some one ; to whom can I 
better say it than to his clergyman ? ' With this he hurried 
away, leaving me only time to learn his name and receive from 
him a kind promise to write to me." 

Mr. Nathan Hale wrote, in the " Boston Daily Adver- 
tiser:"— 

" Mr. Lawrence valued property as the means of personal 
independence to himself and of doing good to others. His bene- 
factions, like those of his lamented brother Amos, were almost 
boundless in number and amount. Every meritorious public 



138 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

object, every benevolent institution, every incorporated charity, 
every association of a more private nature for the relief of want, 
— we may almost say every individual in the community stand- 
ing in need of aid, — shared his liberality. No day in the year 
probably passed without an application, and, according to its 
desert, a successful application to him. Few who read these 
sentences will not be able to bear witness to their truth. The 
extent of his bounties was publicly known only in cases where 
notoriety was necessary ; but hundreds of instances, we have 
reason to think, of good done in secret are known only to those 
immediately benefited and to the Being who seeth in secret." 

As an illustration of the feelings awakened in England 
by the intelligence of Mr. Lawrence's death, we make the 
following extract from a letter of the Earl of Ellesmere 
addressed to Mr. Prescott, September 27, 1855 : — 

" Your kind and sad letter has remained long unacknowledged. 
... If my right hand had more cunning than it pretends to, it 
could not convey what either Lady Ellesmere or myself feels on 
the frustration of the pleasant hope we had lately entertained 
of meeting again with the kind and good friend, whom I yet 
hope to meet, though not in this weary world. 

" It seems but a day, but au hour, since he left us, 
With no sign to prepare us, no warning to pain, 
As we clung to the hand of which death has bereft us, 
Little thinking we never should clasp it again. 

" We ought to have thought so ; — to earth, for a season, 

Worth, friendship, and goodness are lent, but not given; 
And faith but confirms the conjecture of reason, 
That the dearest to earth are the fittest for heaven. 

" I venture to quote the above, not as good, for they are my 
own, but as apposite, be they whose they may. They were 
written on the loss of a very valued friend and relative, Lord 
William Bentinck." 

We have at hand a note to Colonel Bigelow Lawrence, 
then in London, from Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, created 
Lord Lytton a few years later, which farther shows the 
regard in which Mr. Lawrence was held by friends in 
Enoland : — 



ESTIMATE OF HIS CHARACTER AND WORKS. 139 

Park Place, Friday [October, L855.] 

My dear Colonel Lawrence, — I beg to thank you cor- 
dially for your kind letter, and to convey to you my earnest 
condolence in the loss 3^ou have sustained. All that I saw of 
your admirable father, impressed me with affectionate respect 
for him. Such men are among the noblest ties between the two 
nations, and I feel as if one of them were broken — uno avuho 
non deficit alter. 

I fear there is little chance of my ever visiting the United 
States ; but let me hope to see 3-011 and Mrs. Lawrence again in 
England, and accept for her and yourself my sincere and warm 
wishes for prosperity and health, wherever you rove or settle. 

Yours most truly, 

E. B. Lytton. 

The public bequests under the will of Mr. Lawrence 
amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 
This included the second gift to the Scientific School, of 
which Ave have already spoken; 1 a donation of ten thou- 
sand dollars to the Boston Public Library ; and fifty thou- 
sand dollars for the erection of model lodging-houses for 
the poor. Of this last-named gift one who had personally 
known him wrote in the " New York Evening Mail," in 
August, 1876, as follows : — 

" There are many ways of building one's own monument, 
some of them wise, and some otherwise. Among the former 
must siu-ely be included the method whereby the late Hon. 
Abbott Lawrence, of Boston, secured by his will the erection of 
a monument for the perpetuation of his name and memory. 
Already the founder of the Lawrence Scientific School in Har- 
vard University, Mr. Lawrence in his will struck out a new 
channel for the benevolent impulses of his survivors, in the 
bequest of fifty thousand dollars for the erection of model 
lodging-houses, in which persons of respectable character and 
moderate means might economically and in comfort find a 
home. It was a condition of the will that the surplus income 
from the rents of these houses should be forever applied to 

1 On the 1st of January, 1865, Mr. James Lawrence added to his father's endow- 
ment of the Scientific School by a gift of fifty thousand dollars. 



140 ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 

charitable purposes, thus compounding, as it were, the good 
intentions of the giver. Giving was to Abbott Lawrence a 
luxury ; in an atmosphere of benevolence and liberality it was 
his delight to live. To scatter plentifully around him the seeds 
of happiness was his every-day desire, and none who ever saw 
him or heard him speak will be likely to forget the genial smile, 
the fascinating address, the impressive presence, and the abound- 
ing bonhomie of this natural nobleman. ... A recent report of 
the trustees of the fund shows that the trust has been most 
ably administered and the property largely increased, so that it 
is now valued at more than three times the amount of the 
legacy. The will directed that of the net annual income, after 
all charges for expenses, repairs, etc., had been met, one half 
should be distributed to organized public charities, not to indi- 
viduals, and that the other half should be reserved by the trus- 
tees for the increase of the system of buildings. Already over 
seventeen thousand dollars have been given away by the trus- 
tees under the above arrangement, and the prospective increase 
in the property and its income promises a series of gifts in the 
future which will many times exceed in the aggregate the 
original bequest, and preserve the name of Lawrence fresh in 
the memory of generations of men yet to come." 

These houses are situated in East Canton Street, Bos- 
ton, and the present trustees are Messrs. Abbott Lawrence, 
J. Ingersoll Bowditch, and William P. Kuhn. 

Mr. Lawrence kept up through life a large correspond- 
ence with the most eminent men in the United States, 
and, after his return from England, with some of the most 
distinguished men of that country. Unfortunately, the 
great fire in 1872 destroyed nearly all his private papers 
and correspondence, a loss doubly severe since they were to 
have been used in preparing a more extended biography 
of him than is now possible. Of his many speeches, 
addresses, and letters on the political and financial ques- 
tions of the day, and on other topics of public concern, 
the following list comprises all that have been printed 
in pamphlet form : — ■ 



WHITINGS AND PORTRAITS. 141 

A Letter to a Committee of the Citizens of Boston on the Sub- 
ject of the Currency, etc., March 25, 1837. 

Remarks on the Duty of Congress to continue, by Discriminat- 
ing and Specific Duties, the Protection of American Labor, 
at the Convention of Shoe and Leather Dealers held in 
Boston, March 2, 1842. 

Letters on the Tariff, addressed to the Hon. William C. Rives, 
of Virginia, 1846. 

Despatch to the Secretary of State, on the Subject of Cheap 
Postage ; printed by order of the Senate, August 31, 1852. 

Letter from Mr. Lawrence to Mr. Clayton [then Secretary of 
State] in relation to Central America ; printed by order of 
the Senate, February 7, 1853. 

Correspondence between the Governments of the United States 
and Great Britain [during the years 1851 and 1852] relating 
to the Dues now collected in the latter Country from Mer- 
chant Shipping for the Support of Lighthouses and Beacons; 
printed by order of the Senate, April 5, 1872. 

There are several portraits of Mr. Lawrence. The 
earliest one Avas painted in 1832, when lie was forty years 
of age, by Chester Harding. He is represented as seated, 
and with a letter in his hand. It is an admirable like- 
ness and a highly finished picture. It was engraved in 
1856 (from a copy by Moses Wight, now belonging to Mr. 
James Lawrence), by Francis Holl, of London. This pic- 
ture is now in the possession of Mr. Abbott Lawrence. In 
1843 a full-length portrait was painted by G. P. A. Healy, 
for the Mechanics' Hall in Lowell, where it now hangs. 
In 1844 Mr. Lawrence sat to Healy for two portraits. 
One of them has been engraved by Joseph Andrews, 
and is the likeness by which he is best remembered. He 
himself preferred this picture to the two painted at an 
earlier period. It is in the possession of his eldest 
daughter, Mrs. B. S. Rotch. The other, not so much in 
profile, is also a good likeness, and belongs to Mr. Prescott 
Lawrence. 

A bust was modelled in 1836 by Hiram Powers, and is 



I 



142 A.BBOTT LAWRENCE. 

a fine work of art. It is now in the possession of Mr. 
Abbott Lawrence. There is a head in cameo, taken in 
1834 by C. W. Jamison ; and another, in 1843, by J. G. 
King. There is also an excellent daguerreotype, taken 
in 1854. 

Such portraits and semblances, however, at the best, 
give but an imperfect and shadowy impression of the liv- 
ing presence, — of the form, the movement, the look, and 
the smile ; and any such delineation as has been attempted 
in these pages fails to represent adequately the unceasing 
activity, the far-reaching enterprise, the inflexible integ- 
rity of character, the genial influence, and the personal 
inspiration which, to Mr. Lawrence's contemporaries and 
companions, were a constant occasion for admiration 
and pride. But the gifts of which we have spoken — 
to churches, schools, and libraries, the scientific founda- 
tion at Cambridge, and the model lodging-houses in 
Boston — together with the record of his life, will per- 
petuate the memory of Abbott Lawrence as no canvas 
or marble or printed page can do ; and they will amply 
illustrate to succeeding generations the noble record of 
his success as a merchant, of his virtue as a citizen, of his 
eminence as a statesman, of his generosity as a philan- 
thropist, and of his excellence as a man. 



A year or two after the death of Mr. Lawrence, his 
nephew, Dr. Samuel Abbott Green, now Mayor of Boston, 
noticed before a bookseller's shop in the city of Berlin a 
placard announcing for sale within, a little book entitled 
" Der Wes zum Gltick, oder die Kunst Million'ar zu wer- 
den," which purported to be an account of his uncle's life 
and fortunes. Dr. Green went in and asked for the book, 
which proved to be a tract of twenty-eight pages in 
12mo, by one Rudolph Anders, printed at Berlin, 1856. 
Subsequently Mr. George Ticknor wrote an account of it, 



"der weg zum gluck." 143 

translating a portion, for the " Boston Courier," July 3, 
1858 ; and we think it deserves a place in the present 
volume. 

" It is needless to say," remarks Mr. Ticknor, " that the 
whole is a mere fiction attached to the name of our dis- 
tinguished townsman; and we give this notice of it, partly to 
show in what a reckless manner foreigners invent about us 
whatever happens to suit their purposes, and partly to show 
how widely spread was the name and fame of Mr. Lawrence, 
when it could be relied on to give currency, among the masses 
of a population like that in Berlin, to the wholesome moral 
truths this little tract is intended to inculcate. When Lord 
Byron saw a copy of one of his works printed at Albany, a 
place probably of which he knew nothing else, he said, ' This is 
lame.' The fiction attached to Mr. Lawrence's name in the 
Berlin pamphlet implies fame of another sort, and we think a 
better. 

" The Preface, which is intended to give value and effect to 
the manuscript it announces, was evidently written by a person 
who, like most of his readers, knew nothing about Mr. Law- 
rence except that he had made his own great fortune by the 
most honorable means, that he was an American statesman of 
recognized eminence, and that he had represented the United 
States at the Court of St. James in 1849-1852. The rest is 
pure fiction; but it is a fiction so curious and whimsical that we 
translate it entire, — we mean the Preface. It runs thus : — 

"'Before we give the following remarkable manuscript to the 
press, and so publish it to the world, we wish to impart to its readers 
some information concerning its origin. 

"'Abbott Lawrence, the American millionnaire, among whose 
papers the following document was found after his recent death, had 
received "The Way to Fortune, or the Art of becoming a Millionnaire" 
from the dying hands of a rich uncle, who, singularly enough, left him 
nothing else, but in the absence of nearer relatives bequeathed his 
immense fortune to charitable institutions ; saying to his nephew, as 
he gave him the manuscript, "Wealth, my dear nephew, I do not leave 
you, for every man possesses within himself the power to earn it, and, 
with it, to win honor, fame, and happiness. Independent energy is a 
noble thing, and I do not wish to cripple it or destroy it in you by 



144 ABBOTT LAWEENCE. 

making you heir to my enormous wealth, which, though you have 
hitherto been upright and honest, you might use so as to make you a 
bad man. Earn then, as I have done, your own fortune by your own 
energj', and you will know how to measure rightly the worth of riches, 
which should be used only to co-operate with God's providence, to 
supply our own necessities and to assist our fellow-creatures. But in 
order to afford you the means easier to earn a considerable fortune, 
and thus more quickly to obtain honor and happiness, and in order to 
save 3'ou from the necessity of growing wise by your own sufferings, 
I give }'ou here a rich treasury of the experiences which I have gath- 
ered from my own life, and which have made me what thousands and 
millions vainly strive to be, because either they do not know how to 
choose their means rightly, or, having chosen right, do not know how 
to apply them. Use then this treasury of my experiences," the uncle 
continued to the nephew, "use it faithfully, and you will soon, b} 7 your 
own resources, attain to what will be to you for prosperity and bless- 
ing, and insure to you happiness on this side the grave and on the 
other." 

' ' ' When the uncle had uttered these last woi'ds his spirit passed 
forever into the great hereafter. The nephew stood some moments 
lost in thought b} r the bed of death, and well might he regret the vast 
fortune which his uncle had possessed, and which should naturally 
have fallen to him as the next of kin ; but he soon recovered him 
self, took up the manuscript, and began at once the preparations 
for consigning the mortal remains of his uncle to the earth from 
which the} 7 had been taken. And now, on the evening of the day 
in which he had performed these last sad rites, as he sat sorrowful 
in his chamber, he remembered the counsels he had received, and, 
full of curiosity, opened the manuscript, whose seals he had not till 
then broken. 

' ' ' He read and read ; and though its contents did not at once 
become clear and plain to him, still he perceived that the counsels of 
his uncle were not without their worth, and that, if truly followed, 
they would insure his welfare. He therefore resolved to obey them 
strictl}' ; and how he kept his resolution, and with what results, we 
learn not only from private sources but from the history of his country. 
Abbott Lawrence rose gradually, by the force of his own character, 
from the condition of a poor youth to that of a rich and honored man. 
From a laborer and farmer in Virginia he became a wealthy manufac- 
turer, an owner of plantations and railroads, of mines and of gold 
diggings. He was chosen to the House of Representatives. Later 
he was called to the Senate. From 1849 to 1852 he was ambassador 
of the American Union in England, and he would undoubtedly have 



"der weg zum gluck." 145 

become President of the United States if he had not beforehand de- 
clined the honor. He died in the beginning of this year (185G) in 
New York, a man of ten millions of dollars, which, like his uncle, he 
bequeathed to charitable institutions, thus preserving his memory 
through time and through eternity. 

" ' We received the following manuscript from a friendly hand. It, 
contains the legacy of his uncle, which was found among his papers, 
and we think we are doing our fellow-men a service by bringing it to 
light. As it has never been printed in any language, we have at once 
translated it into German, and wish our readers to observe that the 
reckonings are made in German currency.' 

" The manuscript which follows fills about twenty-one pages, 
and consists of very good moral advice, sensible but rather 
commonplace, arranged under forty-four heads. Its motto is 
' Pray and Work,' and the following is a fair specimen of the 
pithy mode in which it announces its different subjects : — 

' Be devout, and fear God without superstition.' 

' Be kind to the poor.' 

' Be tolerant.' 

' Keep a clear conscience.' 

' Simplify 3*our wauts.' 

' Keep your word.' 

' Be punctual.' 

1 Be frugal.' 

' Put your savings at interest where they will be safe, and keep 
working.' 

' Never run in debt.' 

' Get knowledge and experience wherever they are to be had.' 

' Try to be first in your calling.' 

' Respect all ranks.' 

' Never love to spend.' 

' Never lose confidence in yourself.' 

' Persevere.' 

" Each of the forty-four heads is followed by a short exposi- 
tion and enforcement of its doctrine, and the whole ends with a 
short exhortation. No part of it is unworthy the character of 
Mr. Lawrence, but undoubtedly no part of it was ever seen by 
him, or, before it was published, by any person who can have 
known much about him." 

10 



APPENDIX. 



LETTERS ON THE TARIFF. 



DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 

NAVIGATION LAWS. 
CENTRAL AMERICAN QUESTION. 
INTERNATIONAL POSTAGE. 
CONDITION OF IRELAND. 
CLOSE OF THE MISSION. 



APPENDIX. 



LETTEES ON THE TARIFF. 



MR. LAWRENCE TO MR. RIVES. 

[We invite the attention of our readers to the interesting com- 
munication of this distinguished citizen, in our columns of to- 
day. It is a subject which comes home to the " business and 
bosoms " of us all, — the interests and improvements of our own 
State. Mr. Lawrence, during his service in Congress, was most 
advantageously known to the whole Union, by the clear-sighted 
sagacity and strong practical sense which always distinguished 
his views of public measures. He is eminently national in his 
sentiments and feelings, and has ever shown himself a true friend 
of the South. Suggestions from so liberal and enlightened a 
source naturally commend themselves to the cordial and respect- 
ful attention of Virginians. We shall have great pleasure in 
laying before our readers the additional communications he gives 
us reason to expect. — Richmond Whig.'] 

Boston, January 7, 184G. 

My dear Sir, — When you were with us last summer I more 
than half promised to make you a short visit in February, and I 
have not yet given up entirely the long-anticipated pleasure of 
doing so. I have not forgotten our conversation on the condition 
of our country generally, and more particularly the strong desir s 



] 52 APPENDIX. 

manifested by you, to improve the condition of the people of your 
own State. I have always entertained feelings of high regard 
for the Ancient Dominion, arising probably from the intimate 
Revolutionary associations between her and our Old Bay State, 
as well as from my having looked upon her as the mother of many 
of the greatest statesmen and purest patriots which our country 
has produced. 

I am not surprised that you of Virginia should desire to do 
something by which the matchless natural resources of your 
native State may be developed. I have thought that the State of 
Virginia, with its temperate climate, variety and excellence of 
soil, exhaustless water-power, and exuberant mineral wealth, 
contains within herself more that is valuable for the uses of 
mankind, in these modern days, than any other State in our 
Union. 

I need not say to you that these gifts of Providence are of 
little consequence to your people, or to our common country, 
unless developed and improved for the purposes for which they 
were intended. When the Constitution of the United States was 
adopted, Virginia contained double the population of New York ; 
and now New York contains double the number of people in Vir- 
ginia. I do not propose to inquire into the causes that have pro- 
duced such a mighty change in the relative numerical condition 
of these two States. I do propose, however, to state to you some 
of the reasons why you should now set about doing something to 
bring back that prosperity, which many of your people believe is 
forever lost. 

The truth is that nature has been profuse in her gifts in behalf 
of your people, and you have done but little for yourselves. The 
settlement and development of the resources of the Western 
country have brought into existence an active and effectual com- 
petition with your people in the great staples of your agricultural 
products — namely, wheat, Indian corn, and tobacco. Maryland 
and North Carolina, like yourselves, are essentially affected by 
competition from the same quarter, — from Ohio, Kentucky, 
Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa. The 
great West is now supplying largely the New England and other 
States, which are consumers of these agricultural staples, in 
quantity and value, to a greater extent than all the foreign world 
besides. The internal improvements of the country already 



APPENDIX. [53 

finished have brought Boston, by steam, within the distance of 
four days' travel of Cincinnati by way of Buffalo; and a con- 
templated railroad from Burlington, Vermont, to Ogdensburg, 
New York, will bring us practically yet nearer to those fertile 
regions of the West. The expense of transportation is essen- 
tially reduced wherever railroads or canals have been constructed, 
and even the Mississippi herself bears down upon her bosom the 
products of the West at less than half the freight that was 
charged a few years ago. 

Thirty years since, a few small schooners were sufficient to 
carry on the commerce between this city and New Orleans ; now, 
within the last year, we have had one hundred and sixty-five arrivals 
from New Orleans at this port, and many of the vessels are of the 
largest class — ships from five hundred to seven hundred tons 
burden. They have brought us tobacco, Indian corn, flour, cot- 
ton, beef, pork, lard, lead, etc., amounting in the aggregate to 
many millions of dollars. Of the first three of these articles, 
which now come to us in such quantities from New Orleans, our 
importations, in former times, were almost exclusively from Vir- 
ginia, North Carolina, and Maryland. Can you expect to compete 
successfully with the Western regions of our country, where, 
without much labor, the soil produces double, and sometimes even 
more, to the acre, than the average crops of the last mentioned 
States ? This competition will increase ; and it appears to me 
that the remedy for its inauspicious effects upon your welfare, is 
to create a market at home for your surplus agricultural products, 
by establishing such manufactures as may be adapted to the pecu- 
liar condition of your labor. There are two classes of labor, — 
intelligent and unintelligent; the former is that kind of labor 
which requires a considerable amount of mental culture, with 
active physical power. This combination is capable of applying 
science to art, and of producing results that are difficult and 
oftentimes complicated. The latter description of labor is of thai 
character which depends principally on physical strength. This 
quality of labor you have in abundance ; and I hope you arc not 
without a tolerable supply of the higher class. You may, with- 
out doubt, commence the manufacture of almost every description 
of articles requiring but little skill, and prosecute the work with 
success. Manufactures of such articles as iron, hemp, wool, cot- 
ton, leather, etc., wrought into the coarser and more common 



154 APPENDIX. 

articles, would succeed with you. You will find, very soon after a 
regular system of the division of labor shall have been introduced, 
that a desire for knowledge will be created ; more education, more 
intellectual cultivation will be desired by those engaged in the 
mechanical departments ; and, with this eagerness for knowledge, 
will follow skill and cleverness in the use of tools ; and then will 
follow the inventive power, for which our people have become so 
distinguished in the estimation of the world. 

You cannot do anything in Virginia that will so completely pro- 
mote the introduction of railroads, as the placing of manufactur- 
ing establishments on your beautiful waterfalls. The water-power 
on the James River at Richmond is unrivalled ; and it seems a 
great waste of natural wealth to permit it to run into the sea, 
having hardly touched a water-wheel. If the prominent men of 
Virginia, of both political parties, will give up their party warfare, 
and resolve themselves into a " Committee of the whole on the 
Commonwealth, to improve the state of agriculture," by making 
two blades of grass grow where there is now but one, — if they 
will establish manufactures, and carry on a well-adjusted system 
of internal improvements, they will then have done something 
that will be substantial, abiding, — which will stand as a memorial 
of their patriotic devotion to the interests of the people through 
all time. Let your common-school system go hand in hand with 
the employment of your people ; you may be quite certain that 
the adoption of these systems at once will aid each other. 

You cannot, I should suppose, expect to develop your resources 
without a general system of popular education ; it is the lever to 
all permanent improvement. It appears to me essential to the 
preservation of our republican institutions that the people of this 
country should be educated, and that all intellectual culture should 
be founded upon our holy religion ; the pure precepts of the Gos- 
pel are the only safe source from which we can freely draw our 
morality. It is essential that we should have an educated popu- 
lation ; inasmuch as every man can exercise the right of suffrage, 
the elective franchise, in the hands of an ignorant and debased 
population, would very soon place our country in a state of 
anarchy. We should strive to elevate the laboring and less- 
favored classes. In Europe the great body of the people have 
nothing to do with the election of their rulers ; even in England, 
free as she is compared with many of the Continental states, the 



APPENDIX. 155 

mass of the people do not exercise the elective franchise. This 
is a point of primary importance, and your people may rest 
assured that taxes for education, even as a matter of pecuniary 
gain, would greatly enhance the value of their property. I am, 
therefore, clear in my convictions, not only of the duty, but the 
expediency, of introducing manufactures extensively into your 
State, with an expansive system of popular education ; and from 
these movements will soon be seen the happiest results, in a 
healthful prosperity and a striking improvement in the condition 
of the people. 

Just for a moment imagine the whole supernumerary population 
of Virginia employed at a rate of wages such as are paid in the 
Northern and Eastern States : what think you would be the 
effect ? I have not a doubt that the value of land would increase 
within five miles around each manufacturing village, equal to the 
cost of all the machinery in it. The sphere of labor must be en- 
larged, diversified, if you would bring out the energies of your 
people. I yet hope to see Virginia take that place among the old 
Thirteen that seemed by Providence to be assigned to her ; it can 
only be achieved by energy and perseverance on the part of those 
who have the destinies of their fellow-citizens in keeping. Let 
the law-makers, and those who administer the laws, not only speak 
out, but so act as to give an impetus to labor ; let it be considered 
respectable for every man to have a vocation, and to follow it. If 
not for his own pecuniary profit, let him labor for character, 
which he is certain to obtain if his labors benefit others. I in- 
tended to make some remarks on the recommendation of the Pres- 
ident in his Annual Message, and the report of the honorable 
Secretary of the Treasury, to change our whole revenue system. 
The plan proposed, if carried out, has an important bearing on 
the subject of this letter, which is, however, already sufficiently 
long. 

Reserving, therefore, my remarks upon the last-mentioned 
topics for another communication, 
I remain very faithfully, 

Your friend and ob't servant, 

Abbott Lawrence. 

To the Hon. W. C. Rives, 

Castle Hill, Albemarle County, Virginia. 



156 APPENDIX. 



II. 

MR. LAWRENCE TO MR. RIVES. 

[We cheerfully give up our own space to-day to a second letter 
from the Hon. Abbott Lawrence, and feel sure that our readers will 
thank us for the substitution. We have taken but a mere glance 
at this document, but think we may safely say it is a powerful 
and impressive paper, throwing much light upon subjects of par- 
ticular interest to Virginia, and, indeed, to the whole country. — 
Richmond Whig^\ 

Boston, January 16, 1846. 

My dear Sir: — I stated, in my letter of the 7th, that I 
should write to you again, upon the subject of the entire change 
proposed, by the President of the United States and the Secretary of 
the Treasury, in our revenue laws. It is no other than the adop- 
tion of ad valorem for specific duties, and a reduction of the whole 
to 20 per cent ; this being the maximum at which the Secretary 
supposes the largest revenue can be obtained. I shall not now 
discuss the rates of duty that will produce the greatest amount 
of revenue, — I will leave the Secretary to settle that question, — 
but shall endeavor to show what the effect will be upon the country 
if his recommendation should be adopted by Congress. I deem 
the scheme proposed to Congress in the main a currency question, 
and one which, if carried out, will reach in its operation the occupa- 
tion and business of every man in the United States. I believe the 
most economical member of Congress will agree that thirty mil- 
lions of dollars will be required annually to carry on this govern- 
ment for the next five years, and that this estimate does not 
include large sums that may be wanted to settle our affairs with 
Mexico, Texas, etc., etc., and that this sum is to be raised from 
foreign importations and the public lands. The goods subject to 
duty imported, the last year, amounted in round numbers to $90,- 
000,000, and the goods free of duty to about $25,000,000. I 
have not the returns at hand, and may not be exactly correct as 
to amounts, but they are near enough to illustrate my arguments. 
The former paid an average of about 32 per cent, creating a rev- 
enue say of $28,000,000. If the revenue derived from an impor- 



APPENDIX. 157 

tation of $90,000,000 gave $28,000,000, what amount must be 
imported to produce the same sum at 20 per cent ad valorem .' 

The answer is $140,000,000 ; add to this the free goods, about 
125,000,000, and we have an importation of $105,000,000. Our 
exports have not exceeded, nor are they likely at present to ex- 
ceed, $120,000,000. We then have a deficit of $45,000,000 to pro- 
vide for, and how is this balance to be paid ? State stocks are no 
longer current in Europe. Even the stocks of the United States 
cannot be negotiated on favorable terms. 

We who are merchants can answer this question, having often 
been obliged to make our remittances in coin when our imports 
have exceeded our exports. 

If we are obliged to import $140,000,000 worth of goods subject 
to duty to meet the wants of the government, it is quite certain 
that the coin must be exported to meet the deficiency. If the 
importations fall short of $140,000,000, we then have an empty 
treasury. In one case, the country will be made bankrupt to fill 
the treasury ; and in the other, the treasury will be bankrupt, and 
resort to Congress for treasury-notes and loans. It may be said 
that our exports will increase with our imports. This supposition 
I think fallacious. The policy of Great Britain, and that of all 
Europe, has been, and is likely to continue, to protect everything 
produced either at home or in their colonies. In Great Britain 
the article of cotton is now admitted free, the duty having been 
repealed the very last year. This w T as owing to repeated repre- 
sentations of the Manchester spinners to Parliament as to the 
necessity of such a measure, in consequence of the competition 
from foreign countries in the coarse fabrics manufactured from 
cotton produced in, and shipped from, the United States. The 
argument presented in the House of Commons was that the 
Americans had taken possession of every market where they 
were admitted on the same terms with their coarse goods. This 
is a true representation, and I apprehend the repeal of the duly 
on cotton will not enable the British manufacturer to again 
obtain possession of those markets for the heavy descriptions of 
cotton fabrics. 

What other article of importance does the government of Great 
Britain admit free of duty ? I know of none. Cotton is admit- 
ted free of duty from necessity. How is it with tobacco ? A. duty 
is paid of 1,200 per cent. Wheat is prohibited by the " Slidin 



- 



158 APPENDIX. 

Scale ; " and in case of a total repeal of the Corn Laws, very 
little wheat would he shipped from this country, inasmuch as it 
can be laid down, in ordinary years of harvest, much cheaper 
from the Baltic. Beef and pork are burdened with a heavy duty. 
The duty and charges on a barrel of American pork laid down in 
Liverpool, with the commissions for sales, amount to $5.75 ; so 
that the quantity of this article shipped to England must be in- 
considerable, unless the prices here should be so low as to be 
ruinous to the farmer. I cannot find, in the catalogue of our 
strictly agricultural products, a single article that is not burdened 
with a high duty in England, or other parts of Europe, if it 
comes in competition with their own products ; nor can I dis- 
cover that there is a disposition on the part of a single European 
nation to relax the stringent system of duties on imports from 
this country. It is possible that Great Britain may abate her 
Corn Laws, so far as to admit Indian corn at a nominal duty. If it 
should be done, I have little faith in our being able to ship it to 
advantage. I state the fact, then, that exports will not increase 
in consequence of a reduction, or even a total repeal, of the pres- 
ent tariff. The duty in Great Britain on all the products of the 
United States received in that kingdom, including cotton, is not 
less than 48 per cent, and exclusive of cotton, 300 per cent, — and 
this, too, on raw produce generally, where the charge of freight 
constitutes from one tenth to one quarter of the cost here ; and 
this is Free Trade ! 

I hope you of Virginia will examine this matter, and ask 
yourselves where the best customers are to be found for your 
agricultural products. I will just state to you here, that Massa- 
chusetts takes annually more flour, Indian corn, pork, and many 
other articles, — the productions of the West, as well as of Vir- 
ginia, — than all Europe. 

The question then arises, What will be our condition after the 
proposed plan of low duties goes into operation ? In twenty 
days after the bill becomes a law it will have reached every 
country in Europe with which we have trade : the manufactories 
are all set in motion for the supply of the American market ; the 
merchandise is shipped on account of foreigners, — in many cases 
with double invoices, one set, for the Custom House, and another 
for the sales, so that instead of the duty amounting to 20 per 
cent, it will not probably exceed 15 per cent. This has been 



APPENDIX. 159 

the experience of the American importers in New York, who, 
previously to the passage of the Tariff of 1842, had (most of 
them) abandoned the business, not being able to compete suc- 
cessfully with fraudulent foreigners. I will not say that all for- 
eigners commit frauds on the revenue, — far from it, — but 1 
do say that enormous frauds have been perpetrated by foreigners 
on the revenue, under ad valorem duties, and will be again, 
prostrating the business of honest foreign and American impor- 
ters. In less than twelve months after the new plan shall have 
been in operation, this whole country will be literally surfeited 
with foreign merchandise. If it be not so, the revenue will fall 
short of the wants of the government. We shall then owe a 
debt abroad of millions of dollars, which must be paid in coin. 
The exchanges go up to a point that makes it profitable to 
ship specie ; money becomes scarce in the Atlantic cities, yet 
bills on England and France do not fall ; the loans made to the 
South and West are called in ; demands for debts due from those 
sections of country are made ; exchange cannot be obtained ; 
produce is purchased and shipped, and when it arrives at the 
North it will not command the cost in the West. A paralysis 
will have struck the business of the country ; produce will no 
longer answer to pay debts due at the North : and the next resort 
is to coin, which is to be collected and sent down the Mississippi, 
or over the mountains to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and 
Boston. Western and Southern credits are cut off, as the people 
of those sections can no longer promptly meet their engagements. 
The new States, and the outer circle of the Republic, are the 
weak points ; and the first giving way of the banks is heard 
from those places where there is the least amount of capital. We 
see the storm approaching like a thunder shower in a summer's 
day : we watch its progress, but cannot escape its fall. It at last 
reaches the great marts of trade and the exchanges, having swept 
everything in its course ; and the banks of the Atlantic cities, 
after a violent effort to maintain their credit and honor, are 
forced to yield to this Utopian experiment on the currency. I 
have no hesitation in stating that all this will take place within 
the space of eighteen months from the time this experimental bill 
goes into operation ; and not a specie-paying bank, doing busi- 
ness, will be found in the United States. Where will be the 
revenue which was to produce such a mighty sum under low 



160 APPENDIX. 

■duties ? Where are the Treasury and the Secretary, and the 
President and his cabinet ? The treasury is empty ; the Secre- 
tary is making his estimates of income for 1849, and preparing 
to ask Congress for a large batch of treasury-notes ; or perhaps 
the deficit is so large that a loan may be required. We have now 
come to a point of depression, in the great business of the country, 
which has attracted the attention and anxiety of all classes of 
people, all having felt its blight, excepting the great capitalists and 
money-holders, who are reaping golden harvests by the purchase 
of property which the wants of the unfortunate throw into the 
market at ruinous rates. It is now seen and felt — from the low 
wages of labor and the great number of persons unemployed, with 
the cries of distress from all quarters ■ — • that it is the labor and not 
the capital of the country that suffers by violent revulsions caused 
by unwise legislation. Have the people of the South and West 
forgotten their troubles from 1887 to 1842, — to the hour of the 
passage of that law which has redeemed the credit of the gov- 
ernment and restored prosperity to the country ? I have inti- 
mated that there is less capital in the new States than in many 
of the old ones ; it will not be denied that the moneyed capital of 
this country is held in the Northern and Eastern States, and that 
the South and West are usually largely indebted to them. Now 
I should be glad to be informed what benefit is to be derived by 
a planter in Alabama or Mississippi, or a farmer in Ohio or Illinois, 
by a change like that 1 have described, particularly if by chance 
he should be in debt ? Do the people of the South believe they 
can raise the price of cotton, or be able to negotiate loans 
to prosecute the construction of their contemplated railroads ? 
Do Ohio, Louisiana, Illinois, Michigan, believe they are to create 
a better market for their produce, or sooner complete the har- 
bors so much desired on the shores of those " inland seas," and 
be able to negotiate loans, and obtain subscribers to the stock 
of their intended railroads, by the adoption of this new system 
of political economy ? And now what say the great States of 
New York and Pennsylvania to this proposed experiment ? Can 
they afford to try it, and are they ready ? If they are, it will 
be adopted ; if they arc not, the present law will stand, and the 
country will repose for a while in happiness and prosperity. 
Any one would suppose that those States that are now just 
emerging from embarrassment which at one time seemed almost 



APPENDIX. 101 

sufficient to overwhelm them in ruin, would lie unwilling to try 
an experiment which is certain, in my judgment, to place them 
in a position that will be the means of destroying the lair pros- 
pects of thousands who are resting in quiet security upon the 
faith of what they deem a paternal and wise government. The 
question of an important alteration in our revenue laws should 
not be kept in suspense. The treasury will feel its effects before 
the end of the present year. The expectation of a great reduc- 
tion of duties prevents the merchants from going on with their 
usual business. Voyages are delayed, and orders for goods arc 
held back, until this important question shall be settled. I say, 
therefore, if we are to go through this fiery ordeal, let it come at 
once ; we cannot probably place ourselves in a better condition 
than we are now, to meet the troubles that await us. 

Mr. Walker proposes to substitute ad valorem for specific 
duties, — in opposition to our own experience, and that of almost 
every other country. I have never yet found an American mer- 
chant who has not been in favor of specific duties, wherever they 
can be laid with convenience to the importer and the govern- 
ment. I confess it is a bold measure to propose a total and 
entire change of a revenue system which was established with 
the government, and has stood the test of experience through 
all the trials of political parties and administrations, from Gen- 
eral Washington to Mr. Polk. It appears more extraordinary 
at this time, as the country is in a high state of prosperity. The 
revenue is enough for all the reasonable wants of the government, 
and the people appear to be satisfied with their condition. The 
resources of the country were never developing more rapidly ; the 
increase of our population the present year will probably equal 
that of the last, which I estimate as 600,000 souls ; our wealth, 
too, has been wonderfully augmented by the construction of rail- 
roads ; there has been a great increase of our shipping, engaged 
in the domestic commerce of the country, not only by sea, but, 
upon our rivers and great lakes : the manufacturing interest bus 
been largely extended ; and the soil, too, has been made to pro- 
duce vastly more than at any former period. The whole produc- 
tive power of the country has been greater in three years (that 
is, since the passage of the Tariff of 1842) than during any 
equal space of time in our national history. There have been 
three periods of universal distress throughout our land since the 

11 



162 APPEXDIX. 

peace of 1783, and in each case under low duties. I appeal to 
those who remember those periods ; and others, I refer to the 
annals of our country. Those periods were from 1783 (the con- 
clusion of the Revolutionary War) to 1789, from 1815 to 1824, 
from 1837 to 1842. 

I would respectfully recommend to the Secretary of the Treas- 
ury, who appears to have received new light upon the subject of 
our national economy, to examine the history of the legislation of 
Congress at the above periods. He will find, in his own depart- 
ment of the government, abundant evidence of the distress that 
existed under low duties and a deranged currencv. 

There is a prevalent idea abroad that the capital of the coun- 
try will suffer exceedingly by a revulsion in its business, and that 
the tariff of 1842 has operated in favor of the capital and not 
the labor of the country. There can be no doubt that capital is 
generally profitably and safely employed, and well paid. The 
profits of capital are low when wages are low ; but capital has 
usually had the power to take care of itself, and does not recmire 
the aid of Congress to place it in any other position than to put the 
labor in motion. Congress should legislate for the labor, and the 
capital will take care of itself. 

I will give you an example of the rate of wages under low 
duties, and under the tariff of 1842. In 1841 and 1842 the de- 
pression in all kinds of business became so oppressive that many 
of the manufacturing establishments in New England were closed, 
the operatives were dismissed, the mechanical trades were still, and 
every resource for the laboring man seemed dried up. In the 
city of Lowell, where there are more than thirty large cotton 
mills, with from six to sixteen thousand spindles each, it was 
gravely considered by the proprietors whether the mills should 
be stopped. It was concluded to reduce the wages. This was 
done several times, until the reduction brought down the wages 
from about $2.00 to $1.50 a week, exclusive of board ; this opera- 
tion affected between seven and eight thousand females. The 
mills ran on ; no sales were made of the goods ; the South 
and West had neither money nor credit ; and finally it was de- 
termined to hold out until ^Congress should act upon the tariff. 
The bill passed, and of course the mills were kept running, which 
would not have been the case if the act had been rejected, and 
now the average wages paid at Lowell — taking the same number 



AFPEND1X. 163 

of females for the same service — is $-.00 a week, exclusive of 
board. Yet Mr. Walker says labor lias fallen. Where, 1 ask, 
are the wages for labor lower than they were in 1842 ? Who is 
to be benefited by the adoption of a system that gives up every- 
thing, and gives no reasonable promise of anything? 

I have succeeded, I trust, in showing that there is no probability 
of our exports increasing in consequence of a reduction of the tar- 
iff, and that the products of the Western States find the best mar- 
ket among the manufacturers at home. In regard to the Southern 
and cotton-growing States, they are to be greatly benefited by the 
increase of consumption of their staple at home. No apprecia- 
ble quantity can be shipped to England, if the tariff should lie 
repealed, it being already free of duty. The establishment and 
successful prosecution of the spinning of cotton in this country 
has enabled the planters to obtain, for several years past at least, 
an additional cent a pound on the whole crop, and perhaps 
even more. The Americans are the greatest spinners of cotton 
in the world, the British excepted. This competition has kept 
the price from falling to a ruinous point on several occasions, and 
it has been acknowledged by many of the most intelligent plant- 
ers in the South. Our consumption reached, the last year, one 
hundred and seventy-six millions of pounds, which is equal to 
the whole crop of the Union in 1825, and equal to the whole con- 
sumption of Great Britain in 1826. This is a striking fact, and 
one that should be remembered by the planters. The history of 
the production and manufacture of cotton is so extraordinary, 
that I propose to send to you some statistics on the subject fur- 
nished me by a friend. I hope you will not deem me over san- 
guine when I tell you that it is my belief that the consumption of 
cotton in this couutry will double in eight or nine years, and that 
it will reach four hundred millions of pounds in 1856 ; and, fur- 
ther, that we are not only destined to be the greatest cotton 
growers, but the most extensive cotton spinners in the world. 
We have all the elements among ourselves to make us so. The 
manufacture of cotton is probably in its infancy ; but a moderate 
portion of mankind have yet been clothed with this healthful 
and cheap article. Nothing can stop tyie progress of this manu- 
facture but some suicidal legislation, that will prostrate the cur- 
rency of the country, and deprive the people of the power of 
consumption. There can be no legislation that will break down 



164 



APPENDIX. 



the manufacture of cotton and wool, excepting through the 
operation of the currency. We may he disturbed by low duties. 
The finer descriptions of cotton and woollens, printed goods 
and worsted fabrics, would be seriously affected by low ad 
valorem duties ; but the coarser fabrics, such as are generally 
consumed by the great body of the people, will be made here 
under any and all circumstances. If we have competition from 
abroad, the labor must and will come down. This has been 
often tested, and our experience establishes the fact. 

In Virginia and other Southern States, and even at the West, 
many persons have believed that the protective system was made 
by and for New England, and that New England, and particularly 
Massachusetts, could not thrive without it. Now this is an error. 
The South and the West began the system of high protective 
duties for the purpose of creating a market for their products ; 
although the principle of discrimination was recognized and 
established when the first tariff was enacted. It is not true that 
we are more dependent on a protective tariff than the Middle, 
Western, or Southern States. Those States that possess the 
smallest amount of capital are the most benefited by a protective 
tariff. We have in New England a great productive power, — in 
Massachusetts, far greater than any other State, in proportion to 
population. We have a hardy, industrious, and highly intelligent 
population, with a perseverance that seldom tires ; and we have 
also acquired a considerable amount of skill, which is increasing 
every day. Besides this, we have already accomplished a mag- 
nificent system of intercommunication between all parts of this 
section of the country by railroads. This is the best kind of 
protective power, having reduced the rate of carriage to a wonder- 
ful extent. This being done, we have money enough remaining 
to keep all our labor employed, and prosecute our foreign and 
domestic commerce, without being in debt beyond the limits of 
our own State. Now, I ask how we shall stand compared with 
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Alabama, Georgia, or Louisiana, when the 
day of financial trial shall come. I do not deny that we shall 
suffer ; but, as it has been in times past, we shall go into and come 
out of the troubles far stronger than any other State out of New 
England. It is not my purpose to present to you the balance-sheet 
of Massachusetts, but it is due to her character and her dignity that 
she should stand before you in her true position. I have never 



APPENDIX. 1G5 

advocated a protective tariff for my own State or for New Eng- 
land exclusively; nor have those gentlemen with whom I have 
been associated in this cause at any time entertained a narrow or 
sectional view of the question. We have believed it to lie for the 
interest of the whole country that its labor should be protected ; 
and, so far as I have had to do with the adjustment of those diffi- 
cult combinations embraced in a tariff bill, I have endeavored to 
take care that the interests of all the Stales were protected. 
whether they were large or small. I say now to you, and ii 
should be said in Congress and to the country, that Massachusetts 
asks no exclusive legislation. If Pennsylvania, New York, and 
Ohio, the three great States, with Kentucky, Georgia, Missouri, 
Alabama, and Louisiana, wish to try an experiment on iron, coal, 
hemp, cotton bagging-, sugar, etc., I am ready, as one citizen of 
Massachusetts, to meet it, and await in patient submission the 
result, which I doubt not will be found, within eighteen months, 
in the realization of all I have predicted. I say again, I would 
not, if I could, have a tariff made for Massachusetts alone. If, 
however, there should be a new one, let our interests, with those 
of every other State in the Union, share that protection to which 
we are all entitled, and of which we claim our full share. I can with 
confidence assure you that we shall go upward and onward. 
We will work. If twelve hours' labor in the twenty-four will not 
sustain us, we can and will work fourteen ; and at the same time 
feel that Congress cannot take the sinews from our arms, or rob 
us of the intelligence acquired from our public schools, established 
by the foresight and wisdom of our fathers. 

At the risk of writing a long letter, I cannot forbear alluding 
to the fact that the habitual agitation of this question of the tariff 
has worked in the main to the advantage of New England. We 
were, previous to the War of 1812, an agricultural and navigating 
people. The American system was forced upon us, and was 
adopted for the purpose of creating a home market for the pro- 
ducts of the soil of the South and West. We resisted the adop- 
tion of a system which we honestly believed would greatly injure 
our navigation, and drive us from our accustomed employments 
into a business we did not understand. We came into it, how- 
ever, reluctantly, and soon learned that, with the transfer of our 
capital, we acquired skill and knowledge in the use of it ; and 
that, so far from our foreign commerce being diminished, it was 



166 APPENDIX. 

increased, and that our domestic tonnage and commerce were 
very soon more than quadrupled. The illustrations were so 
striking in every department of labor, that those who fifteen years 
ago were the strongest opponents of the protective tariff among 
us have given up their theories, and acknowledged that the reve- 
lations are such as to satisfy the most sceptical. We have gone 
forward steadily, till many descriptions of manufactures are as 
well settled in New England as the raising of potatoes. Our 
experience has given us skill ; and, of course, we have confidence 
in our own resources that does not exist elsewhere. 

When I converse with gentlemen from the South and West 
respecting the establishment of manufactures, they reply that 
they should long ago have engaged in them, but the repeal of the 
tariff — the action of the government — prevented them. Now, 
you cannot blame us if this constant agitation of the tariff question 
has tended to give New England, not a monopoly, but advantages 
which she has not been instrumental in bringing about. I have 
no doubt we have been gainers, on the whole, by these agitations ; 
yet we have at times been great sufferers. I wish those States 
that have withheld their energies from entering upon these indus- 
trial pursuits, to examine this matter, and, if I am right, to take 
an observation and a new departure. We have no jealousy what- 
ever concerning the establishment of manufactories in all parts 
of the country. On the contrary, I believe those gentlemen from 
the South and West who have been here will bear witness to the 
desire on the part of the people who are engaged in manufactures 
to impart all the information in their power. There is room for 
us all. 

When the Southern and Western States shall manufacture their 
own clothing, we shall have become extensive exporters of the 
variety of manufactures produced here. We have the ships, and 
the men to navigate them. We shall pursue an extensive foreign 
commerce with manufactures, and bring home the products of 
other countries, such as coffee, tea, etc., and pay for the produce 
of the South and West with foreign luxuries and necessaries of 
life. It has often been said here by us, who advocated protection 
to American labor, that in wearing British cottons, woollens, etc., 
we were consuming British wheat, beef, pork, etc. I am happy to 
find authority of the highest respectability for this opinion, in the 
person of one of the most eminent merchants, as well as one of 



APPENDIX. 167 

the best and most honorable men, in England, — Mr. William 
Brown of Liverpool, lately the free-trade candidate tor Parlia- 
ment for the county of Lancashire. In a letter to John Rolfe, 
Esq., a landholder, upon the advantages of free trade, he says : 
"You next allude to the League wishing to injure you. I pre- 
sume it will not be denied that all interests in the kingdom arc 
so linked together that none of them can suffer without the others 
being injured. We must sink or swim together. Paradoxical as 
it may appear, I think Great Britain is the largest grain-export in; / 
country in the world, although it is impossible to estimate accu- 
rately what quantity of grain, etc., is consumed in preparing 
<£ 50,000,000 value of exports, by which you arc so greatly bene- 
fited. It is placed in the laboratory of that wonderful intellectual 
machine, man, which gives him the physical power, aided by 
steam, of converting it into broadcloth, calico, hardware, ete. ; 
and in these shapes your wheats find their way to every country 
in the world." 

I thank Mr. Brown for the clear statement he has presented 
of the importance of a home market, and commend this extract 
from his letter to the consideration of every farmer in the United 
States. It is perfectly sound, and applies with particular force 
to our present condition. To place the people in a condition 
of permanent and solid prosperity, we must encourage home 
industry by obtaining the greatest amount of production. This 
can only lie obtained by diversifying labor, which will bring with 
it high wages ; and unless the labor is well paid, our country 
cannot prosper. Agriculture, the foundation of all wealth, 
depends on production, and a market for its products. The 
encouragement of agriculture is found in the establishment of 
manufactures, which, if maintained, will be certain to secure a 
market. 

I ask the farmer to look for a moment at the following state- 
ment. American flour in Cuba pays a duty of about $10 a 
barrel; in Rio Janeiro, $5 to $6; and in many other ports the 
duties vary from 50 to 150 per cent. In return we take coffee, 
most of which we pay for in coin, free of duty. And this is 
free trade. We have, too, treaties of reciprocity with foreign 
countries ; and among others, Great Britain (not including her 
colonies), by which her ships are admitted into our ports on the 
same terms as our own. They come freighted with her minerals 



168 APPENDIX. 

and manufactures, which are sold here ; and take in return a 
variety of articles, the produce of the United States, — such as 
timber, lumber, fish, etc., — touch at New Brunswick or some 
other colony, and go home free of duty. We have, too, triangu- 
lar voyages, made from England to Jamaica, and other British 
Islands, with cargoes ; and thence to the Southern States, where 
they load with cotton, tobacco, and other produce, for England. 
This, too, is called free trade. I will not pursue this branch of 
the subject, but give you a fact. Not long since the foreign 
carrying trade was nearly all in our own hands ; now the reci- 
procity system, not including the colonies of foreign nations, 
gives to foreigners more than one third of all the carrying trade 
of the United States ! I cannot believe the time is far distant 
when the Government of the United States will protect as it 
ought the foreign navigating interest of this great country. If 
we would have American seamen to man our navy, the mercan- 
tile marine must be protected in the carrying of our own pro- 
ductions. 

One more fact, and I will close these long and, I fear you will 
think, desultory remarks. Some years since, a few bales of 
American coarse cottons were sent from this country to Hin- 
dostan as a commercial experiment. The superiority of the 
fabric, and the material of which it was made, gradually brought 
the goods into notice and use in that country, and the annual 
exportation from the United States increased from a few bales 
up to three and four thousand per annum. The British manu- 
facturers were much annoyed at this interference ; and it is pre- 
sumed that it was through their influence that the East India 
Company (the government of that country) have repeatedly 
augmented the discriminating duty on these goods (which are 
called drillings) for the purpose of protecting their own manu- 
factures against those of the United States. Prior to 1836 the 
duty was five per cent in favor of British goods. In that year it 
was increased to eight and a half per cent ; a few years after, 
augmented to ten and a half per cent ; and even this rate of 
differential duty proved insufficient to keep out the Americans, 
who drove a profitable trade, notwithstanding the great difference 
against them. And now, within a few months, the East India 
Company have been compelled again to increase the discriminat- 
ing duty to fifteen per cent in order to exclude our goods alto- 



APPENDIX. 109 

gether; and this difference "will, without doubt, accomplish the 

object. 

These facts are deserving of a passing remark, as illustrative of 
the energies and resources of the United States. As late as the 
beginning of the last war, in 1812, this country imported almosi 
all its coarse cotton fabrics from Hindostan, whence they came 
literally by ship-loads, and wore paid for almost altogether in 
coin. No country seemed to be more abundant in means neces- 
Bary to supply such goods cheaply than Hindostan. lis soil 
furnished an abundance of cotton, which, though noi of equal 
quality to that of the United States, was much less in price, and 
labor was cheaper than in any country in the world. Cotton- 
spinning machinery was available through the medium of British 
capital, and the manufactures received a protection of ten and a. 
half per cent against foreign interference. No country seemed 
more secure from foreign competition in these goods than Hin- 
dostan; and least of all was there fear of competition from the 
United States. — a country fifteen thousand miles distant, where 
-a day's labor will earn about twenty-live pounds of good rice, 
whilst in Hindostan it obtains less than ten pounds of very 
inferior rice. But the American planter furnished better raw- 
cotton; the manufacturer, a better and cheaper fabric : the ship- 
owner, a speedy and cheaper conveyance. Their united efforts 
drove the British manufacturer of these coarse goods from the 
largest British colonial market, — a market which the Americans 
would now lie in possession of but for the interposition of the 
East India Company with another protective duty to sustain 
their manufactories. I have no fault to find with the course 
pursued by the British in these regulations. I have introduced 
these facts to exhibit to you the transcendent folly of attempting 
a system of low duties and free trade where it is all on one side. 
I have not yet known the British government to reduce the duties 
to a point that has reached a single important interest. Their 
free trade and low duties never apply to any article that seriously 
competes with their own labor, nor are they likely to adopt such 
measures. The free trade of the political economists of Great 
Britain is a transcendental philosophy, which is not likely to be 
adopted by any government on the face of the globe, unless it be 
the Chinese ; and we have already the earnest of the effect of low 
duties on the internal condition of that country. The trade of 



170 APPENDIX. 

that empire is fast approaching to barter, the precious metals 
having been drained to pay for the foreign products introduced 
into it. 

I am aware that I have written a long letter, but I could not 
well abridge it consistently with glancing at many topics in 
which I take a deep interest. The subject is boundless, and I 
would cheerfully carry out, by illustrations and examples, many 
points upon which I have touched ; but I forbear for the present. 
When I have the pleasure to meet you we can discuss all these 
questions, embracing not only the present condition but the 
future prospects and destiny of our beloved country, for which I 
entertain the strongest attachment. Our strength and glory is 
in upholding and maintaining the Union. 1 

I shall send in a few days statistics furnished me by a friend, 
who is intelligent, careful and accurate in these matters, and 
who holds himself responsible for all that will be stated. 

I pray you, my dear sir, to accept the assurances with which 
I remain, most faithfully, your friend and obedient servant, 

Abbott Lawrence. 

To the Hon. William C. Rives, 

Castle Hill, Albemarle County, Virginia. 



1 Mr. Webster wrote to Mr. Lawrence from Washington, on the 25th February, 
1846 : " Your letters to Mr. Rives have a very great circulation, as you are aware, 
and are highly praised by intelligent men. The second of them will form the sub- 
stratum of what I propose to say (if I say anything) on the tariff subject." — h. A.H. 



APPENDIX. 171 



111. 

MR. LAWRENCE TO MR. RIVES. 

Boston, February 20, 1846. 

My dear Sir. — When I wrote to you on the 16th of hist 
month, I proposed to present in another letter some facts in re- 
gard to the progress of the spinning of cotton, since the first 
high protective tariff in 1816, to the cotton year ending 31st of 
August, 1845. 

These facts I shall offer for the special consideration of those 
who inhabit the cotton-growing region of our country, and of 
those whu brought forward and carried that law through 
Congress. 

The tariff law of 1816 was founded in wisdom ; and I am ready 
here to make my acknowledgments to those distinguished states- 
men of the cotton-growing States, who successfully consum- 
mated an act that has done so much to promote the prosperity 
of the whole Union. 

The primary object on the part of those members of Congress 
representing the cotton-planting States, in establishing a high pro- 
tective tariff, was to extend the consumption of their great staple 
in this country, by excluding foreign-made cotton fabrics, and 
substituting a domestic article, manufactured from American cot- 
ton. I think the authors of the tariff law of 1816 may congratu- 
late themselves and their countrymen on the complete success 
that has followed from the adoption of the minimum of twenty- 
five cents the square yard, contained in that bill, ruder its bene- 
ficial operation we have been enabled to supply our own popula- 
tion with cottons of the coarse and middling qualities, and to 
export to foreign countries to the amount of four or live millions 
of dollars annually, for which we receive in payment, tea, coffee, 
sugar, hides, copper, etc. These goods, the product of our own 
labor, have become a*substitute for coin in the several countries 
to which they are shipped. 



172 APPENDIX. 

It would seem that the founders of this system of high protec- 
tion to labor ought to be satisfied with its results, as the quantity 
of cotton now spun in the United States is far greater than the 
most sanguine of its friends anticipated in 1816. According to 
a statement made up by Mr. Patrick T. Jackson and Mr. John A. 
Lowell, for the use of the tariff convention held in New York in 
1832, the home consumption of cotton, prior to the passage of 
the act of 1816, was eleven millions of pounds, being about 
three-eighths of the quantity now spun at Lowell. 

The quantity spun in Great Britain in 1816 was eighty-eight 
millions of pounds. There are no data to be relied upon for 
continuous returns of home consumption between 1816 and 
1825-1826. 

In 1826-1827, the returns were made in a New York price- 
current, and they have since been continued, and are deemed to 
be as correct as the nature of the case will admit. 

In 1826-1827 the amount spun in the United States was 
103,483 bales, which we may estimate at 330 pounds each, (net 
of tare) equal to 34,149,390 pounds. 

In the same year the quantity spun in Great Britain was 
197,200,000 pounds. From 1828 to 1830 was a period of em- 
barrassment and distress among manufacturers ; consequently the 
consumption of 1829-1830 was only 126,512 bales, of about 345 
pounds each, amounting to 43,646,640 pounds, while the consump- 
tion in Great Britain was 247,600,000 pounds. At this period 
some of our Southern friends, who had been foremost in advocat- 
ing home manufactures, and had counted largely on the benefits 
anticipated by them in 1816, from the operation of the protec- 
tive policy (as greatly augmenting the consumption of their 
staple), began to manifest dissatisfaction with what they con- 
sit Icred the slow progress of our cotton manufactures. The idea 
entertained and put forth was that we should never require so 
much as to bear any considerable proportion to the consumption 
of Great Britain. This, as will be shown, was a false view of 
the case, and has proved a capital error. 

In 1832-1833 the quantity spun at home reached 194,412 
bales, averaging perhaps 360 pounds each ; in 1835-1836, 236,- 
733 bales; in 1837-1838, 246,063 bales; in 1839-1840, 295,- 
193 bales. In 1841-1842 there was deep commercial and man- 
ufacturing distress, and the consumption receded to 267,850 



APPENDIX. l,:i 

bales. In the latter part of the year 1842 and in 1843, after 
the present tariff law went into operation, a revival of business 
throughout the country took place, and brought up the amount 
spun to 325,129 bales. 

In 1844-1845 (the year ended 31st August last) the amount 
spun was 389,006 bales. There is aquantity of cotton consumed 
in the interior of the States, — which, never having reached the 
seaports, is not included in the New York statement, — that has 
been estimated to be at least 41,000 bales. We shall therefore 
estimate the total quantity at 430,000 bales of 410 pounds each, 
net, making a total of 176,300,000 pounds as the consumption 
last year, against 11,000,000 pounds in 1816, being a period of 
twenty-nine years. 

The consumption in Great Britain has gone on steadily in- 
creasing, but not in so rapid a ratio as in the United States. The 
returns for 1845 have been received, 1 and amount to 560,000,000 
pounds, against 176,300,000 pounds in the United States. Thus 
the increase in the United States, from 1816 to 1845, has ex- 
tended from 11,000,000 to 176,300,000 pounds in twenty-nine 
years, being an augmentation of sixteen-fold. The increase in 
Great Britain, in the same period of time, has been from 88,700, 
000 pounds to 560,000,000 pounds, being an augmentation of 
less than seven-fold, against an increase in the United States of 
sixteen-fold. 

These are not only striking, but important facts, and present 
a view of the case which refutes the anticipations of those who 
entertained different opinions of the future increase of the spin- 
ning of cotton in this country, fifteen years ago. I cannot but 
hope that the views and opinions of some of the prominent men 
of the South may undergo a change when they examine this ques- 
tion dispassionately, and that they will come to the conclusion that 
they are deeply interested in the spinning, as well as in the pro- 
ducing, of cotton, at home. As regards the future.it' the gen- 
eral peace of the world be maintained, and the leading business 

1 Quantity of yarns spun in Great Britain in 1845, 494,000.000 pounds : 
Exported in yarns, 134,500,000 lbs., valued at 12d. {24 cts.), S32,280.0oo 

Exported in manufactures, 202,360,000 " " " 1> S $<1- ( :;,; i Cts.), 73,000,000 

Consumed at home, 158,000,000 " " " 40 cts., 63.200,000 

Total 494,860,000 " 

Whole value of cotton manufactured in England S168,480,000 



174 APPENDIX. 

concerns of the country are not disturbed by the legislative ac- 
tion of the Federal government, there is no reason why the 
increased home demand for cotton should not go on in as rapid 
a ratio as during the past. This would be doubling the present 
consumption in a little more than eight years. 

There are now an immense number of spindles under con- 
struction in a majority of the States, (probably not less than 
500,000), all of which are intended to be in operation before the 
1st of January, 1850, and the probability is, that at that time 
the quantity of cotton spun will reach 650,000 bales of 410 
pounds each, or 266,500,000 pounds. There will also be a great' in- 
crease in Great Britain, but not in the same proportion, as we 
possess some advantages in the manufacture of heavy goods 
which are not enjoyed in England. So long as we produce bet- 
ter goods and can maintain our superiority abroad, there will be" 
a constantly increasing export demand, which is of great value 
to the whole country. Upon a review of this branch of indus- 
try, it appears to me that its future prospects are excellent, if 
not disturbed by bad banking, and (what is still more pernicious 
to all branches of industry) unstable and unwise legislation. 

The tariff has already been altered several times (I believe, six 
or seven) since 1816. 

If the present movement against the Act of 1842 shall succeed, 
in accordance with Mr. Walker's plan, it must be followed soon 
by a counter movement ; if not on the part of the people, the 
government itself will recommend it for revenue. 

It may be truly asserted that the coarse cotton fabrics, such 
as are worn by the laboring classes, are sold as cheap here as in 
England, or in any part of the world. Of course there is no 
further burden imposed on the consumers of this description of 
home-made goods. It has been said that the existing duties on 
cotton goods prevent importations of almost every kind. This is 
so far from the fact, that in the last three years the amount of 
cotton and mixed cotton and worsted fabrics, printed and plain, 
imported, has been larger than in former years, having ranged 
from $510,000,000 to $13,000,000. This large amount is of the 
finer descriptions, and such as arc worn by the fashionable and 
rich. We shall continue to import largely of these luxuries so 
long as our people have surplus means to expend in dress, and 
the permanent revenue, under the present system, will be much 



appendix. !;."> 

greater than under that proposed by the Secretary of the 
Treasury. 

The question has often been asked. Why nol reduce the duties 
on cottons if you can sell them so low ? I answer thai the duty 
now is nearly inoperative, entirely so on some kinds, such for 
example as are exported in large quantities. If the duties were 
reduced materially on the coarse goods, I should interpose no 
objection, provided ample protection was maintained on the mid- 
dling and line qualities. This is a matter to be carefully ar- 
ranged by practical men. We have now certainly nothing to fear 
in the manufacture of yarns as high as No. 14, — so far we can 
go on without protection, — but the higher numbers require pro- 
tection, and it should be by a specific duty. The law as it now 
stands, although inoperative on coarse cloth, gives confidence to 
the investment of capital in machinery for the manufacture of 
line fabrics, — in fact, a very large amount is already invested in 
mills which produce yarns and cloth as high as No. 60. With- 
out protection, and that in form of specific duties, there will be 
no increase of machinery adapted to the middling and tine 
fabrics. The great amount of printed calicoes require protec- 
tion, and will suffer severely without it. I will not dwell longer 
on this subject of cotton. I trust that I have presented facts 
to satisfy the cotton planter that his interests have been pro- 
moted by creating another market, and a larger one too, for the 
spinning of his staple. We actually consume (wear) more 
pounds of cotton in this country than are consumed in Great 
Britain, since more than two thirds of the quantity spun in that 
country is exported in the form of yarns and cloth. We work 
up more than France, and quite as much as 60,000,000 Germans. 
Our consuming ability of this, and all other comforts of life, is 
beyond that of an equal number of persons of any other coun- 
try, and five times as great as that of Russia. 

The factories alone of Massachusetts and a neighboring State 
spin annually 180,000 bales of cotton. 

We received one million of barrels of flour (more than the 
whole export of the United States to foreign countries) the last 
y^ar. The amount of products of States out of New England, 
taken by Massachusetts the last year, amounted to $ 10,000,000, 
in cotton, lead, wool, sugar, coal. iron. Hour, grain of all suits. 
pork, beef, lard, tobacco, rice, etc., for which we paid in the pro- 



176 



APPENDIX. 



ducts of our labour. And this is a"steady and increasing market 
for the articles I have named. 

In fact, Massachusetts (not to speak of the other New England 
States, which are all large consumers) affords greater support 
to the agricultural and planting States, South and West, than 
any other State in the Union, and greater support to the strictly 
agricultural States than all foreign countries. The Tariff of 
1 842 was enacted as much for the benefit of the Southern and 
Western States as for Massachusetts, and they have derived as 
much advantage from it in proportion to their capital. Of the 
truth of this declaration they will be satisfied after a year's 
experience under Mr. Walker's plan of low ad valorem duties. 
The notion is prevalent, I am fully aware, that the Northern and 
Eastern States, engaged in manufacturing, enjoy the principal 
benefits from the present tariff. But this is not the case. By 
reference to the following quantities of protected articles, pro- 
duced out of New England almost wholly, you will see that there 
are other great protected interests in the country besides the 
manufacture of cotton and wool. The duties on these are from 
40 to 100 per cent, and on spirits they are higher. There 
are produced from 

450,000 to 500,000 tons of iron ; 

220,000,000 pounds of sugar ; 

20,000,000 pounds of maple sugar ; 

9,000,000 to 12,000,000 gallons of molasses ; 

5,000,000 to 7,000,000 tons of coal ; 

50,000,000 to 60,000,000 pounds of wool ; 

10,000,000 bushels of salt ; 

60,000,000 to 70,000,000 gallons of spirits, mostly from grain; 

12,000,000 to 15,000,000 yards of cotton bagging ; 

20,000,000 pounds of bale-rope and twine ; 

80,000 to 90,000 tons of hemp and flax. 

To this list might be added twenty minor articles, worth in 
the aggregate more than the whole amount of cotton fabrics 
produced in the United States. 

Iron we still import to the amount of 70,000 to 80,000 tons, 
including nearly all used on railroads, which can and will be 
produced at home as soon as increased capital is acquired. We 
now produce more iron than France or Russia, or any other 



APPENDIX. 177 

country save Great Britain, Hiose product is now 1,500,000 tons. 
Within a few years there can be no doubi that the product of 
iron will be doubled, provided the prosperit} of the country is 
not interfered with by experiments made by Congress on the 
labor and currency of the country, which is a greater discourage- 
ment to branches of business requiring a large fixed capital than 
is imagined by many of our legislators who make and unmake 
tariffs. 

It is estimated that, at the present prices of sugar, the culti- 
vation in a very brief period of time will be extended to the 
required home consumption, now about 300,000,000 pounds, 
which in ten years may be 500,000,000 pounds. 1 have no doubt 
that the best interests of the nation require that the present duty 
on sugar should be maintained with other protective duties. 
This extension of sugar cultivation will employ a huge amount 
of labor now devoted to the production of cotton. 

It would seem that several States of this Union might with 
profit multiply the occupations of labor. It appears to me they 
require new sources of support ; and the progress and condition 
of their population, with the amount of production, present to 
the reflecting portion of the people a strong argument in favor 
of such new sources. I will state a few facts. 

The State of Virginia contains 64,000 square miles ; had. in 1840, 
1,239,797 inhabitants, being less than 19 to the square mile ; 
gross products, according to Professor Tucker, 876,769,053. 

Xew York contains 46,000 square miles ; had, in 1840, 2,498,617 
inhabitants; products in the same year, 8193,806,433; add the 
product of navigation, as distinct from commerce, which is 
omitted, on 650,000 tons shipping, $ 20,000,000 ; making, in the 
aggregate, 1 213,000,000. 

In 1790, by the first census, Virginia had 12 persons to the 
square mile; and Xew York, 7.!. Xow, Virginia contains 19 
and Xew York 53 to the square mile. 

In 1820 Virginia had a population of 1,065,379 ; in 1830, 
1,211,405 ; in 1840, 1,239.797. Xew York, in 1820. 1,372,812; 
in 1830, 1,918,608 ; in 1840, 2,428,921. 

In 1850 Xew York will probably contain nearly 3,000,000, 
and Virginia, say, 1,260,000. These facts, one would suppose, 
would be sufficient to induce the people of Virginia to introduce 
new branches of industry, and to establish the modern internal 



178 APPENDIX. 

improvements for transportation, that the rich resources of the 
State may be developed. 

The condition of the two Carolinas is much the same as Vir- 
ginia. The population of North and South Carolina, in 1830, 
was 1,319,172; in 1840, 1,347,817; increase, <L\ per cent in 
ten years, principally in North Carolina. Even in Great Britain 
the increase in the same time was 11 per cent. 

In Massaphusetts, although there were 8H to the square mile 
in 1830 against 17 in the Carolinas, there was an increase of 
21 per cent from 1830 to 1840. The aggregate products of the 
two Carolinas in 1840 were $59,595,734, with a population of 
1,347,817. The products of Massachusetts, with a population 
of less than 800,000 people, amounted at the same time to 
$100,000,000, and now the products of labor and capital are 
more than $120,000,000. 

I have introduced these statements for the purpose of exhibit- 
ing fairly the true condition of some of the old States, and to 
awaken the public mind in those States to the importance of 
bringing out their productive labor by introducing new branches 
of business, in order that the industrial classes may be profitably 
employed; and to show that the three States named have as 
great a stake in protecting the labor of the country as any 
other in the Union. They have now but little else than soil and 
physical power remaining. You possess but a small amount 
of productive power in the form of railroads and labor-saving 
machines. You have a deep interest, in common with all the 
States, in upholding the labor of the country. You seem to be 
satisfied that the time has come when something should be done 
to improve the condition of your people. The people of Virginia, 
with South and North Carolina, (particularly the two former 
States,) have pursued a policy that has brought them, so far as 
population is concerned, to a stationary condition; and, from 
present indications, I should not be surprised to see Eastern 
Virginia and South Carolina with a less number of people in 
1850 than they contained in 1840. 

If you propose now to enter upon those pursuits that are cer- 
tain in their operation to give employment, and that of a profit- 
able kind, to your people, and to create a market at home for 
your agricultural products, what object can there be in transfer- 
ring our workshops to Great Britain? The South and West 



APPENDIX. 179 

have every motive to give efficient protection to the labor ot the 
whole Union: first, because those employed in the mechanical 
and manufacturing arts are the besl customers for your agricul- 
tural products; and, secondly, because von desire to engage in 
those departments of labor yourselves. 1 say, then, look well 
to this project, now under consideration at Washington, to 
change our whole revenue system. There is one principle upon 
which every government, and every commercial community with 
which 1 am acquainted, agree throughout the world; and that 
is, to establish specific duties, or a valuation of their own. .Mr. 
Walker has reversed this decision, and recommends ad valorem 
duties on an alleged valuation abroad. 1 deem this feature in 
the bill a violation of sound principle, and such as must be con- 
demned by men of all parties whose experience and knowledge 
are of value. It is no other in practice than to drive from our 
foreign trade a large number of honest importing merchants, 
and to place their business in the hands of unscrupulous for- 
eigners. Time may reveal the truth of this prediction. 

The President and his Secretary of the Treasury have stated 
that the operations of the present tariff law oppressed the poor. 
I confess this assertion surprised me, coming from high func- 
tionaries of the government, who have the means of obtaining 
correct information. I assume the responsibility of stating that 
a laboring man may be and is clothed with American manu- 
factures, from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, as 
cheaply as a laboring man in Great Britain, or in any other part 
of Europe, who wears as comfortable garments ; and that the 
revenue is raised principally from articles consumed by those 
classes of society who are in easy pecuniary circumstances. I 
beg to refer Mr. Walker to the reports from the customs, and 
ask the favor of him to present them to the President, and he 
will there find the only article on which the poor man is in veil 
to any extent is sugar ; and that cannot be deemed very onerous 
when he obtains his tea and coffee free of duty, and with a favor- 
able prospect, if the present duty be maintained, of very soon 
being supplied from our own soil with sugar at a price much 
below that now paid. It is an error of the President and Secre- 
tary to put forth a statement that the Tariff of 1842 oppresses 
the poor man, when the principal part of the revenue is derived 
rather from the luxuries than the necessaries of life. 



180 APPENDIX. 

When we hear from high sources of transferring our work- 
shops to Manchester, Birmingham, and Leeds, I should be glad 
to know if it be proposed to transfer our intelligent working-men 
with them, and whether a farmer in Ohio can be made to believe 
that these men will eat more of his beef and pork in Old than 
in New England. This is a strange doctrine, and sounds to me 
quite anti-American, and is the same as the sentiments uttered 
by the old Tories previous to the Revolutionary War. 

There is one other point, to which I shall allude, in the report 
of the honorable Secretary. He says that the wages of labor 
are lower now than previous to the Tariff of 18-12. If he means 
the wages of labor in the manufacturing portions of the country, 
I will state a fact which I think completely illustrates the incor- 
rectness of his assertion. 

In the State of Massachusetts the Institutions for Savings are 
obliged by law to make returns to the legislature.. In the annual 
returns just published I find the following : — 

SAVINGS BANKS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 





Number of 


Amount 


Increase in 


Increase in 




depositors. 


deposited. 


depositors. 


amount deposited. 


1841 


39,832 


•16,485,424.82 






1842 


41,102 


6,675,878.05 


1,270 


$190,453.23 


1845 


54,256 


9,214,954.07 


13,154 


2,539,076.02 



being an increase from 1841 to 1842 of about 3 per cent on 
depositors and about 34; per cent on amount deposited ; and an 
increase from 1842 to 1845 of about 32 per cent on depositors, 
or nearly 11 per cent per annum, and about 38 per cent on 
amount deposited, or nearly 13 per cent per annum. 

I shall make no comments upon this extraordinary exhibition 
of the increase of depositors and deposits, further than to state 
that all the world knows for whom these admirable institutions 
were established and by whom they are used. 

I will not trouble you with more facts, arguments, or illustra- 
tions touching this great question, national in its character, 
as broad as the limits of the Union, and one that reaches the 
condition of every individual in it. 

I have, personally, no more interest in this question than any 
other citizen. If the government adopts a course of measures 
that prostrates the labor of the country, I shall, in common with 
every other citizen, feel its effects. We are, I hold, one great 



APPENDIX. 181 

family, and indissolubly linked together, and the chain cannot 
be touched without the vibration being fell al either extremity. 

I entertain and cherish a strong American feeling. Although 
born and bred hi Massachusetts, 1 have a feeling of pride in the 
honor and character of every State in our Union. 1 desire to 
see our whole population go onward and upward in a course of 
prosperity and happiness. My affections for this country an' 
not bounded by geographical lines; and whether 1 find myself 
in Maine or in Georgia, still I am an American citizen, protected 
1>\ the constitution and laws of one of the most prosperous and 
happy countries upon which the sun ever shone. With all our 
party strifes and bickerings, the country goes on prospering and. 
I trust, is to prosper. I have only to ask of those who are uow 
the actors on our great political stage, not to experiment upon the 
prosperity and destinies of a happy and contented people. 

With sentiments of the highest respect and regard, I remain. 

dear sir, 

Your friend and obedient servant, 

Abbott Lawrence. 

To the Hon. William C. Rives, 

Castle Hill, Albemarle County, Virginia. 



DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



THE NAVIGATION LAWS. 



MR. LAWRENCE TO MR. CLAYTON. 

Legation of the United States, 
London, 2nd November, 1849. 

Sir, — Since I last had the honor of addressing you, nothing 
of political importance has transpired in Europe. The latest 
journals from the United States bring to us the notice issued 
by the Secretary of the Treasury in relation to the navigation 
laws. This has been received with great satisfaction by the 
ministry, and others who were in favor of the repeal of the Brit- 
ish laws upon this subject. I confess my gratification at the 
repeal of these laws, as we can now test our ability to compete 
successfully with the greatest navigating nation in the world. 
Looking upon this question as one of grave importance to the 
interests of the United States, I have given it my best considera- 
tion. We have advantages in the construction of ships over any 
portion of Great Britain. Take, for example, the cost of a ship, 
built in Liverpool, of 1,250 tons burden, the cost in London being 
about the same. 

Timber and plank delivered at the yard in a 

rough state £12,150 

Labor, carpenters' work, caulkers, etc. . . . 6,300 

Treenails 220 

Oakum, pitch, etc 150 

Yard rent 400 

Contingencies, iron, copper, etc 1,600 

Cost of fitting sails, rigging, etc 9,000 

£29,820 



APPENDIX. 1 83 

This Avill make the cost per ton ftllG. Then to navigate her, 
she will require under the English laws not less than forty nor 
more than forty-five men, including officers and crew. A ship 
has been and can again be built, of 1250 tons burden, at a nel 
cost of 185,000, or -vC8 per ton, and can be navigated by thirty 
officers and men. These details have been furnished by practical 
shipbuilders. If we reduce the cost of building in England ten 
per cent, and increase the cost in the United Stales ten per cent, 
there still exists a large margin in favor of the United States. 
The same remark will apply to the number of seamen employed. 
It may be said that the wages both of master and men are lower 
here than in the United States. It is true that the masters of 
British ships are paid much less than the masters of American 
ships, and that seamen's wages are also somewhat lower. These 
items would appear to be of importance in a sharp competition 
for the mercantile supremacy of the world. Capital is also 
cheaper than in our country, an advantage to the British ship- 
owner that he will probably enjoy for a long time to come. None 
of these facts can, in my estimation, prevent a successful competi- 
tion on our part with our great rival. The enterprise, energy, 
and intelligence of our ship-owners, officers, and men, will in the 
end prevail. It will be found, I think, that our form of govern- 
ment has more influence upon this question, than any other as- 
signable cause, in the production of men who have no conventional 
rules or regulations to remove, and no prejudices to encounter. 
I will not depreciate the character of British seamen. It would 
be folly to speak lightly of a people who have by their enterprise 
and valor made themselves masters of the ocean, and who pos- 
sess at this moment the largest naval as well as mercantile marine 
in the world. Yet I cannot but see that the character of the 
American mariner is more elevated than that of any other sea- 
man, — a fact which I ascribe to his better education and his 
higher expectations for the future. I believe these men to be the 
necessary products of free government and popular education, 
and we exhibit them to the world as sure elements of success in 
their new field of enterprise and labor. The truth of these views 
has been partially illustrated in the prosecution of the whale 
fishery. That branch of commerce is open to all the world, and 
what has been the result? The skill and courage of American 
seamen have created, in that hazardous and almost romantic 



184 APPENDIX. 

branch of national industry, a marine of seven hundred and fifty 
ships, belonging to the United States, which may be found in 
every sea. The British whale fishery has diminished to a tenth 
part of this number, and is yet diminishing, and it is believed by 
many will be abandoned altogether, not being able to compete 
with the hardy and intelligent sons of Neptune, born and bred in 
the United States. We are young and vigorous, and a fair field 
is now open for the exercise of the physical and mental powers 
of the old and young Anglo-Saxon. We have now open to us, by 
the repeal of the British Navigation Laws, a field for action, the 
barriers to which we desired to have removed more than thirty 
years ago. We offered to all the world reciprocity, so far as the 
carrying trade was concerned. England, more important to the 
United States than all other countries besides, refused to accept it. 
She has now adopted the proffer we then made, and I have no 
doubt we shall obtain advantages of great consequence from it. 
It is very questionable whether the measure of 1817 was founded 
in wisdom on the part of the United States, inasmuch as those 
nations embraced it which had very slender equivalents to offer 
in return. ( )nr navigating interests have, in my judgment, suffered 
severely from the adoption of this reciprocity principle. What 
reciprocal trade is there for our ships between Prussia, Norway, 
Sweden, and Denmark? Would it not be useful, to a full under- 
standing of our commercial relations with those countries, that 
an inquiry should be instituted, and the true operation of reci- 
procity with them laid before the people ? It would be well, I 
think, to know what equivalents we obtain for the privilege we 
grant them of bringing to our shores the products of other coun- 
tries than their own, and carrying thence the products of ours. 
It should be remembered that the United States is the largest 
exporting country, in bulk, upon the earth, with productions that 
are essential to the well-being of almost every nation in Europe. 
I cannot, therefore, but entertain the hope that those nations on 
the continent of Europe, which have enjoyed the high privilege of 
reciprocity in navigation, may be induced to reduce the duties 
upon tobacco and other articles of our production. I have taken 
the liberty to call your attention to this question of reciprocity, 
without any desire for immediate action upon it, but with a view 
to bring the subject to the consideration of the government and 
people. 



APPENDIX. 185 

It appears to me that the United States will soon possess a full 
share of the commerce of the world, and it only requires the ex- 
ercise of timely wisdom to secure it permanently. In order that 
the people of our land may obtain the full benefit of their own 
vast resources, it is essential that their labor should have reason- 
able protection against the very cheap labor of this and all other 

countries. 

I have the honor to be, Sir, 

Very respectfully your obedient servant, 

Abbott Lawrence. 
P. S. — I beg to add that under no circumstances can we yield 
the slightest portion of our coasting trade, either upon the 
Atlantic or Pacific oceans. 

To the Hon. John M. Clayton, 

Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. 



II. 

CENTRAL AMERICA. 



MR. LAWRENCE TO MR. CLAYTON. 

Legation of the United States, 
London, 9th November, 1849. 

Sir, — After closing my despatch No. 8, I unexpectedly re- 
ceived a note, at a quarter past three, from Lord Palmerston, 
appointing an interview immediately, and repaired at once to 
his house, where I had a free conversation respecting Nicaragua, 
Costa Rica, and Mosquito, and particularly upon the points of 
occupation and colonization and the guarantee of the neutrality 
of a ship canal or other communication across the Isthmus. If 
these two questions are settled by Great Britain in accordance 
with our views, it seems to me they will form the basis of suc- 
cessful action hereafter. I informed Lord Palmerston of the 
treaties made by Mr. Hise and Mr. Squier, and also of Mr. 
White's contract with Nicaragua, and promised that he might 
read all of them at a future time. I stated that my present 
object was to obtain from him a declaration in writing of the 
views of his government upon the two questions above referred 



186 APPENDIX. 

to, that I might communicate it to you by to-morrow's steamer, 
and, for reasons which I gave, placed it upon the ground of per- 
sonal favor. He expressed himself willing to answer a note 
embodying these interrogations, after first seeing the Premier. 

I also took occasion to put some of the other questions you 
instructed me to ask. To the question, Whether this government 
is informed of any route for a canal more favorable than that 
proposed ? he replied that he had no knowledge of any other. 
To the question, What are the purposes of the British govern- 
ment towards Costa Rica? he answered, They have no political 
relations whatever with that country ; that the government of 
Great Britain had been often applied to by the agents of Costa 
Rica to assist them, but had declined meddling with the affairs 
of the Central American states. To the inquiry as to a late 
map of Central America, he replied that he did not know whether 
any had been published ; but he exhibited to me a map of Costa 
Rica lately sent to him by an agent of that State. I will make 
further inquiries for such a map, and, if it is to be had, will send 
you a copy as soon as possible. I then told Lord Palmerston 
that I should not now enter upon a discussion of the rights of the 
Mosquitos, and hoped that it would not become necessary ; but 
if it should, I was prepared to show, by reference to principles 
of public law recognized and practised upon by Great Britain 
herself, that neither the Mosquitos nor Great Britain had the 
slightest claim to the sovereignty of that territory. I thank you 
for the suggestions and full instructions upon this subject. If 
it is to be argued, I shall find your despatch of great service. 

After this interview, I returned at once and addressed a note 
to Lord Palmerston, requesting to knew, in time to send by this 
packet, if possible, — 1st, Whether Great Britain intends to 
occupy or colonize Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito Coast (so 
called), or any part of Central America ? and 2nd, Whether Her 
Majesty's Government would join with the United States in 
guaranteeing the neutrality of a ship canal, railway, or other 
communication, to be open to the world and common to all 
nations ? At the same time I took occasion to say that I had no 
doubt the difficulties between Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and the 
Indians could be arranged satisfactorily to all parties, but de- 
clined entering upon the discussion of these questions at present. 
I also repeated that we had no ulterior purposes in view, and 



APPENDIX. 187 

expressed my belief that the United States would be willing to 
mutually agree with Great Britain, neither to settle, annex, 
colonize, nor fortify Central America. You will perceive that I 
narrowed the ground, on which we shall of course act hereafter, 
iu order to obtain a prompt reply, well knowing your anxiety 
on this subject, and the importance of relieving the popular 
mind. I cannot but think, however, that the whole tiling hinges 
on the points raised by these questions. 11' the reply of Lord 
Palmerston is of the character I anticipate, I firmly believe that 
this question of Mosquito, with the disputes between Nicaragua 
and Costa Rica about their boundaries, can be amicably settled. 
Costa Rica comes here and finds fault with the United States. 
Nicaragua goes to the United States and finds faull with Great 
Britain. Now, if the whole question be approached with a desire 
to preserve harmony, not only between the United States and 
Great Britain, but between the several States of Central Amer- 
ica, and your suggestion be carried out respecting the Mosquito 
Indians, the whole affair must be settled, and without compro- 
mising the honor of any party. 

I have been forced to write this note before receiving a reply 
from Lord Palmerston, as, if I get one, it will not come till just 
before the closing of the mail. I have also been obliged to write 
in great haste, as twenty-four hours have not yet elapsed since 
I left the Legation to go to Lord Palmerston's house, and it is 
very possible I may have omitted some parts of the conversa- 
tion. I have endeavored to give you the more essential parts, 
and hope at an early day that this question will be amicably 
settled, and a new era opened in the history of the world by the 
creation of a new highway for its traffic. 

I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

Abbott Laweence. 

The Hon. John M. Clayton, 

Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. 



188 APPENDIX. 



III. 

MR. LAWRENCE TO MR CLAYTON". 

East Siieen (near London), 
28th December, 1849. 

Sir, — Your despatch No. 8 was received on the 25th inst. It 
found me too ill to attend to business, in which condition I yet 
remain. I enclose a copy of a note sent to Lord Palmerston 
the 15th inst., which I hope will meet with your approval. Mr. 
Stevens promises his catalogue by the next steamer. He finds 
it more voluminous than he expected. 

No answer has as yet been received from Lord Palmerston. 
The " Times " has taken up the subject again in an article 
friendly to our view. 

I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

Abbott Lawrence. 

The Hon. John M. Clayton, 

Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. 

[enclosure.] 
MR. LAWRENCE TO LORD PALMERSTON. 

The undersigned, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Pleni- 
potentiary of the United States of America, has the honor to 
call the attention of Viscount Palmerston, Her Majesty's prin- 
cipal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to the political con- 
dition of Central America, and the plans for the construction 
of a railway and ship canal through that country, from ocean to 
ocean, which have recently been the subject of conversations 
and correspondence between the undersigned and his Lordship, 
and about which it seems desirable that the respective views of 
the United States and Her Majesty's Governments should be 
mutually and definitely understood. 

The undersigned desires, first, to recapitulate the facts illus- 
trating the present position of this question. Great Britain and 
the United States both profess to desire to see highways con- 
structed from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Both wish to see these 
highways properly guarded during construction and after com- 



APPENDIX. |V< 

pletion. Both desire to see them, when finished, placed upon 
such a basis as will entitle them to the confidence of the world. 
Each has an interest in them approached only by that of the 
other. For Great Britain they will open new and shorter routes 
to her Eastern empire; for the United States they will be the 
bridge connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific States and con- 
solidating- their vast territory. Above all, for the world, by 
opening new avenues for its commerce and greater facilities for 
friendly intercourse, they will offer strong guaranties for the 
continuance of peace and the increase of good-will. 

The United States have already taken the initiatory steps for 
such results. Permission to construct a railway across the 
Isthmus of Darien, near Panama, has been granted to a pri- 
vate company of American citizens, who have been joined by 
British capitalists ; and the work is now under construction, its 
neutrality guaranteed by a treaty of the United States with Xcw 
Granada. The State of Nicaragua has also granted to certain 
citizens of the United States the right to construct a ship canal 
from sea to sea through her territory ; and the neutrality of this 
route also is guaranteed by a treaty concluded, but not yet rati- 
fied, between the United States and Nicaragua. This treaty 
will probably be submitted for ratification to the Senate at its 
present session, and the undersigned has been informed that it is 
proposed to offer the subscriptions of the canal stock to English 
and American capitalists. Copies of these several treaties and 
charters the undersigned has already had the honor to submit to 
Lord Palmerston. The United States have disclaimed al! inten- 
tion to settle, annex, colonize, or fortify the territory of ('(Mitral 
America, which declaration has been met by a similar disclaimer 
on the part of Great Britain. Her Majesty's Government have 
intimated their willingness to join with the United States in 
their guarantees of neutrality. To this brief statement may lie 
added that the undersigned has learned, unofficially, through the 
public press, that the charge d'affaires of the United States of 
Guatemala has obtained from the Government of Honduras the 
cession of an island in the Pacific Ocean, with reference to the 
wants of the proposed canal; from which, if correct, it would 
appear that arrangements have been made by the United States 
for its western outlet. 

From the foregoing statement it appears that Great Britain 



190 APPENDIX. 

and the United States agree on all the main points. Lord Pal- 
merston will also undoubtedly coincide with the undersigned in 
the belief that without such agreement this work may be de- 
layed. No other nations in the world have such important inter- 
ests to be affected by it ; no others have the requisite capital at 
command ; no others have shown a willingness to guarantee the 
neutrality essential to its safety, and capital, always timid, would 
shrink from it without such guarantee, much more were it the 
cause of disagreement between these two nations. Though 
Great Britain and the United States may each be in a position 
to do this work single-handed, yet neither would probably desire 
to do so. It may therefore be assumed that the two countries 
desire to go on with the work through their respective capital- 
ists, together and harmoniously ; and that, in the absence of any 
obstacles, it would be soon completed and in operation. 

The only apparent obstacles are the boundary disputes be- 
tween the several states of Central America, the claims made 
in favor of the Mosquito Indians to a portion of the territory of 
the eastern coast of the Isthmus, and the British occupation 
of Grevtown. 

Desiring to remove, if possible, these impediments, the under- 
signed offers for the consideration of Viscount Palmerston cer- 
tain suggestions, in the hope that his Lordship will either coin- 
cide with the views of the undersigned, or will offer some others 
more feasible. In regard to the boundaries of the states of 
Central America, the undersigned is persuaded that, if these 
states fail to settle them amicably, they can be induced to sub- 
mit their disputes to the arbitration of certain citizens of the 
United States and Great Britain appointed by those two govern- 
ments, whose decision shall be final. The kind offices of those 
two nations might be further extended to a recommendation to 
the different states of the Isthmus to unite under a federative 
government, both for the better social development of that peo- 
ple and the peace of a country becoming so important to the 
world. With respect to the Indians, the United States are 
convinced that their claim is against well-settled principles of 
public law, and its admission would virtually surrender to bar- 
barism much of the American soil now in the possession of the 
aborigines. The undersigned is sensible that, unless the views 
of the two governments on this subject can be harmonized, 



APPENDIX. l'Jl 

the co-operation so much desired will be prevented; and, feel- 
ing confident that Viscount Palmerston, as well as himself, 
would deprecate such a result, he begs leave to present certain 
considerations which he believes may bring the two nations 
together. 

In a former communication Viscount Palmerston has said 
that " a close political connection has existed between the crown 
of Great Britain and the state and territory of Mosquito for a 
period of about two centuries." It is no purpose of the under- 
signed at present to consider the nature, object, or history of 
that connection. He alludes to it simply to call Lord Palmer- 
ston's attention to the great changes which in that time have 
come over the world. Its commerce lias increased in an almust 
untold ratio. Facilities of intercourse exist, then undreamed of. 
Xew nations have become powerful on lands then scarcely dis- 
covered and entirely unknown. Old kingdoms, then great, have 
faded away. Older powers still have been reanimated by an 
infusion of Christian vigor. And now, by a combination of 
these circumstances, with a future in prospect surpassing them 
all, the eastern coast of Central America has received an impor- 
tance it never before possessed. It appears to the undersigned 
that the just interests of humanity demand that this territory 
should be open to the great object under consideration, without 
let or hindrance, even though the claim of these savages were 
valid. They can be properly provided for otherwise. But the 
face of Nature cannot be entirely changed ; and, in order to give 
full confidence to the capitalists of Europe and America, neither 
the United States nor Great Britain should exercise any political 
power over the Indians or any of the states of Central America. 
The occupation of Grey town, and the attempt to establish a pro- 
tected independence of Mosquito, throw at once obstacles in the 
way, excite jealousies, and destroy confidence, without which 
capital can never flow in this channel. Nicaragua, too, stands 
in a position to demand the good-wiil of all entering into this 
work. She holds the undoubted western key ; and should she 
refuse the right to traverse her territory, except on the recogni- 
tion of its integrity, neither Great Britain nor tin- United States 
could take that right by force. She has already, too, granted 
the only available charter ever given, and the grantees stand 
ready to go on when they can once be assured of protection. 



192 APPENDIX. 

The undersigned can discover no course that will ensure the 
accomplishment of this great work, except the extension of 
Nicaragua from shore to shore, including of course the dedica- 
tion of Greytown to the purposes of the canal, which Her 
Majesty's Government have already expressed a willingness to 
make. The Indians must be properly cared for. The United 
States would view with no less concern than Great Britain the 
practice of any harshness towards that people. The right might 
be guaranteed to them to pursue their usual occupations within 
definite limits, ample for such a purpose ; with a condition that if 
any nation, corporation, or company have acquired or may acquire 
the privilege of constructing a communication between the At- 
lantic and Pacific Oceans by means of a canal, and if such com- 
munication shall necessarily pass through the lands assigned to 
the Mosquitos, a reasonable compensation shall be secured to 
them, which shall be paid by Nicaragua for the extinction of 
their title to as much of that territory as may be necessary for 
the objects in view. In that event, of course, the sovereignty of 
the whole territory would rest in the Spanish states ; the whole 
arrangements and stipulations on their part, however, with re- 
gard to the Indians, to be made satisfactory to the United States 
and Great Britain, and proper stipulations made for enforcing 
the same. The execution of these suggestions would require 
the conclusion of treaties between Great Britain and some of 
the states of Central America, as well as the United States and the 
same states, and the undersigned is obliged to say that the 
United States have no power over any of them, nor has he au- 
thority to speak for them. He can assure Viscount Palmerston 
that, in the event of these suggestions meeting the views of Her 
Majesty's Government, the United States will spare no proper 
exertion to induce the powers to become parties to such an 
arrangement. 

The undersigned has therefore the honor to inquire of Vis- 
count Palmerston whether Her Majesty's Government are willing 
to enter into a treaty with Nicaragua similar to that negotiated 
by Mr. Squier on behalf of the United States, — whether they 
are willing to enter into a treaty with New Grenada, guarantee- 
ing the neutrality of the railway now under construction, and 
whether they are willing to let the protectorate of the In- 
dians pass to other hands under proper checks and guards for 



APPENDIX. 103 

their humane treatment, and let such parts of the territory ( Baid 
to be occupied by them) as may be necessary be dedicated to 
this great work. 

A ship canal connecting the two oceans will do more to per- 
petuate peace between Great Britain and the United Stales, and 
in fact in the whole world, than any other work \ el achieved. A li- 
ter the lapse of centuries, during which various companies have 
been formed for its construction, and have failed, we have the 
opportunity to exhibit anew the power and energy which have 
made us the two greatest commercial nations on earth. It i> our 
mission to extend commerce, the pioneer of civilization and 
child of peace, to all parts of the world ; to cultivate friendly 
relations with all : to bring the distant near, and to illustrate by 
our example the elevating effects of Christianity. There is a 
fitness in our union for the purpose of opening a great channel 
of communication, — saving a distance of more than ten thousand 
miles, — given up to the use of the world, dedicated to peace, 
and working out incalculable benefits to mankind. Let us con- 
struct the work on the only practicable basis, and invite all 
nations to join in the guarantee of its neutrality, that neither 
now nor hereafter jealousies may arise on the part of those who 
may be the recipients of its benefits. 

The undersigned begs leave to add further, that he has reason 
to think that the people of Great Britain and the United States 
entertain the same feelings in regard to the importance of this 
work, and stand ready to enter on its construction, as they have 
already on that of the railway, when they can see their invest- 
ments guarded by suitable guarantees. He ventures to express 
the hope that Viscount Palmerston will give the subject an early 
consideration. The Congress of the United States is now in 
session, and he is anxious to transmit the decision of Her Maj- 
esty's Government to the President. 1 

The undersigned begs Lord Palmerston to accept the assur- 
ance of his distinguished consideration. 

Abbott Lawrem b. 

United States Legation, 

138 Piccadilly, 14th December, 1849. 

1 No reply to this Note was ever received; but there is reason to believe that, 
in consequence of it, the instructions were sent to Sir Henry Bulwer under which 
the Clay ton-Bulwer treaty was negotiated. Mr. Clayton may never have expressed 
his approval of the Note in an official despatch ; but it was received in Washington 
with the greatest satisfaction, and President Taylor especially is said to have 
spoken in high terms of it. — 11. A. II. 

13 



194 APPENDIX. 



IV. 



MR. LAWRENCE TO MR CLAYTON. 

United States Legation, London, 
April 19, 1850. 

Sir, — Not long after my arrival in this country I became 
satisfied that there was a very serious difference of opinion be- 
tween Great Britain and the United States, relative to the pro- 
tectorate claimed by the former over the Mosquito Indians ; 
and thinking it most probable that I should be called upon offi- 
cially to defend this difference upon our part, I early commenced, 
and have steadily pursued the investigation of that question, 
using the great means which my locality has placed in my poAver. 
I have from time to time kept you informed of my labors, but 
have never deemed it necessary to acquaint you with their results, 
as I have supposed, from the tenor of your public as well as pri- 
vate notes, that the discussion of this question would take place 
here if at all. I now learn, from your private note of the 31st 
ultimo, that these negotiations are entirely transferred to Wash- 
ington, and that I am to cease altogether pressing them here. 
In this event I have thought you would most probably wish to be 
possessed of the materials I had provided for myself. If, in 
submitting them, I travel over ground familiar to you, or omit 
much your sagacity had detected, you will pardon me in view of 
the haste with which this is finally reduced to form, and in view 
also of the earnest desire which actuates me to do all in my 
power to advance the public interests. 

You are aware that the British argument for the independence 
of Mosquito rests on the following grounds : first, a denial that 
Spain ever acquired a title in the territory in question ; second, 
the assertion that whatever show of title she had was abandoned 
by the treaty of 1670, in view of a long-previous and then exist- 
ing " possession " of that country by England ; which possession, 
it is said, was subsequently maintained and further fortified by 
the submission of several Mosquito kings in succession, and was 
in existence at the time of concluding the treaties of 1783 and 
1786 ; and third, the claim that whatever might have been the 
former legal condition of these Indians, or whatever might have 
been the just construction of the treaties of 1783 and 1786, yet, 



APPENDIX. 135 

when the states of Central America threw off allegiance to Spain, 
and worked out their independence, those treaties became, by 
that very act, nullities as to those states, at hast until their 
political recognition by Spain, which Lord Palmerstou asserts 
has never been diplomatically accorded; and that in consequence 
of the want of such recognition, those states arc incapable of in- 
heriting any Spanish rights in Mosquito, whether acquired by 
discovery, conquest, occupation, treaty, or in any other way, hut 
must show, to avail, a title acquired by themselves, indepen- 
dently of the mother country. 

I can obtain more directness in this note by making a denial 
of these propositions its basis. 

Before entering upon their discussion, however, I desire to say 
a word as to the geographical limits of Mosquito, which are bj 
no means accurately defined even in the claim made by I lei- 
Majesty's Government. 

There is, on the eastern coast of Central America, between 
Cape Honduras on the north and the San Juan River on the 
south (possibly extending as far even as Boca del Toro), a trad 
of low, swampy, unhealthy land of a various width, and rising in 
its western border into highlands and mountains. The lower pa it 
of this country has never been much occupied by Europeans, in 
consequence of its insalubrity. The mountainous parts arc said 
to contain but little valuable mineral stores. At the time of the 
discovery by Columbus, and until within a comparatively recent 
period, it was inhabited by some fifteen or sixteen tribes of In- 
dians, speaking different languages and often at war with each 
other; and, among others, there was a tribe known as the Mos- 
qnitos (so called by the early voyagers from the abundance of 
Moseas found on the coast), living between Cape Honduras and 
Cape Gracias a Dios. They gradually overcame and almost ex- 
terminated the more southern tribes, aided perhaps by the 
Buccaneers, and by degrees the name of Mosquito came to be 
applied to all living north of the Bluefields ; and I think, in all the 
discussions of the last century relating to this subject, the .Mos- 
quito country was never understood to extend far. if at all, be- 
low that river. It is now defined by Lord Palmerstou as reach- 
ing to the San Juan River, embracing the northern bank, so as to 
take in San Juan de Nicaragua (Anglicized into Georgetown), 
and command the mouth of the river. In my opinion, it is 



196 APPENDIX. 

quite immaterial where the royal geographers are directed to 
draw the line, as I am satisfied the whole claim is without just 
foundation. All the good maps of the sixteenth, seventeenth, 
and eighteenth centuries, French, Spanish, Dutch, and English, 
carry Honduras from coast to coast, — Nicaragua the same, — 
and fix the southern terminus of the Mosquito Shore at or near 
where I have indicated. 

The character of the Indians at present occupying this country 
deserves notice, since Great Britain seeks to invest them with 
the attributes of an independent nation. 

In the year 1836 one James Woods, a native of Ipswich in 
the county of Suffolk, allured by the promises of an emigration 
company, set sail for Vera Paz. On his return, in 1840, he pub- 
lished a sketch of his adventures in Central America, to serve 
as a warning against similiar companies. Among other places, 
he resided awhile at Cape Gracias a Dios, in charge of a store of 
provisions, rum, etc., etc. He says : " The rum was a dangerous 
thing in the store, for the Indians will kill a man for the sake of 
a glass of rum ; and there were only five Europeans on the cape. 
I had a demijohn of brandy for the Indian king, but he was gone 
up the river. He and his brother were taken from the Mosquito 
Shore when young, and carried to the island of Jamaica, where 
they were taught to read and write the English language. After 
staying there for several years, they were brought back to the 
Mosquito Shore. One was made king, the other a general ; 
and, although brought up in a civilized state, yet they returned 
to the wild and savage state in which their people live, — getting 
drunk, and giving themselves up to the most disgusting habits. 
No sooner had the king heard I had a demijohn of brandy for 
him, than he set out to return home. He went to the house of a. 
Frenchman named Bouchet, who came down to the store and 
told me His Majesty wished to see me. I went up to the house, 
where the king was lying on the bed, rather unwell. I made 
my compliments to him, and asked him how he did. He told 
me he was very poorly, and that he wanted me to draw him a 
gallon of brandy. Accordingly, I went down to the store and 
drew him a gallon, which I carried to him. He asked me to 
drink, and stay and dine with him, which I did. He told me 
that he loved me. I replied, ' You love the brandy better ; ' but I 
turned it off with a laugh, or he would have been offended with 



APPENDIX. 197 

me. He stayed for two or three days, and then left for Bluefielcfs. 
These Indians far exceed all the Indians I have ever met with in 
lying, thieving, and everything that is disgusting. They are given 
up to idolatry, and lead an indolent life." Alter giving details 
of their ignorance and barbarism, he adds : " They arc also great 
drunkards, and are never easy but when they arc drunk." And 
of the English settlers on the shores he says : " They are almost 
as bad as the natives, and live in almost as disgusting a manner." 
This strong picture, painted by an Englishman, is borne out by 
the personal relations of many other travellers. 

The historical portion of this paper will relate, not to Mosquito 
alone, but to Central America from Tehuantepec to Panama. 
The naval and military operations of the Spaniards were so ex- 
tensive, their conquests were so complete, and their settlements 
were so rapid and numerous, that it is impossible to separate the 
conquest and colonization of that part of Nicaragua and Honduras 
called the Mosquito Coast, from the subjugation and settlement 
of that portion of them to the west of the indefinite line swaying 
across their interior at the will of the Foreign Office. 

With these preliminary statements, I now arrive at an exami- 
nation of the positions taken by Her Majesty's Government. 

The first is a denial that Spain ever acquired any right in 
Mosquito. 

The complete discussion of this proposition necessarily requires 
a twofold argument, — the one purely legal, the other purely 
historical ; the one a general inquiry into the means of acquiring 
exclusive sovereignty or domain in such a country as Central 
America, as settled by the practice of nations and the opinions 
of jurists and statesmen ; the other a particular examination into 
the question whether Spain, or her representatives, had taken the 
necessary steps to acquire such. As it would be worse than need- 
less, with you, to enter at length upon the first, I will content 
myself with a statement of such general principles as are 
necessary to the understanding of what I have to say as to the 
second. 

The discovery of a new continent, rich and fertile, peopled by 
tribes of hunters, gave to the more civilized Europeans ( in their 
own judgment) the right to take possession of it, to people it, 
and to open its resources. Public and private enterprise carried 
to its shores, in the course of a few years, adventurers from many 



108 APPENDIX. 

nations, who made almost contemporaneous discoveries ; and it 
became necessary to define the nature of the rights acquired by 
the discoverer, both as between himself and the nation, and him- 
self and other discoverers. As emigration or military expeditions 
receded from the coast into the country, and the extent of coast 
rights came under discussion, these conflicting claims became 
more complicated ; but, fortunately, the complete exploration and 
settlement of Central America at a very early day entirely do 
away with the necessity of entering upon this difficult ground. 

The Christian w T orld have agreed in recognizing the Indians as 
occupants only of the land, with a right to possession without 
domain. Absolute sovereignty was in each case acquired by 
discovery to the government by whose subjects or under whose 
authority the discovery was made, subject only to the Indian 
right of occupation, which the discovering power possessed the 
exclusive right of acquiring at such time and in such manner 
as it might think best, — provided the discovery was consummated 
by a subsequent possession, not of the whole, but of some point 
in the country claimed. As a necessary result, the occupying 
Indians became the quasi subjects of the discoverers, who alone 
had the right of regulating their relations with them, and might 
justly consider " an attempt to form a political connection with 
them as an invasion of territory and an act of hostility." The 
possession requisite was not that of an active settlement ; neither 
was it ever held necessary that the aborigines should be con- 
quered. 

I might fortify these views by a long display of authority. I 
could cite Vattel, Kent, Grotius, and other legal writers. I could 
call to my aid Chief Justice Marshall, whose luminous opinions 
have never been surpassed. I could quote from the official ar- 
guments and correspondence of English, French, Spanish, and 
American statesmen and diplomatists. I could point to the 
universal polity of the Christian world. I could show with con- 
fidence what has been the conduct of Portugal in Brazil, and of 
France in the Canadas and in Louisiana. I could examine the 
history of Spanish discovery and conquest from Oregon to Pata- 
gonia, from 1492 to 1820, exhibiting the admitted acquisition of 
vast empires by the former process, and their transfer (as in the 
case of the Floridas) without a reduction to possession by the 
latter. Above all, I could rely on the precedents furnished by 



APPENDIX. 190 

the English efforts at colonization ; on the claim to extend the 
thirteen Atlantic colonies to the Mississippi ; on the conflict with 
France on the Ohio, in the middle of the eighteenth century; on 
the treaty of peace with the United States in 1782 ; and, still 
later, on the difficulties with the French in Australasia since the 
Peace of 1815. But it would be needless to quote these authori- 
ties at length, since they are, doubtless, more; familiar to you than 
to me. I am left therefore, in this connection, only to show that 
Spain discovered Central America, and occupied it. I believe that 
she did much more : that she discovered, circumvallated, explored, 
conquered, settled, retained possession of, and governed it. with 
only such interference as the rudeness of the times permitted or 
rather could not prevent. 

The principal authorities for the early history of Central America 
are Oviedo, Peter Martyr, Gomara, Enciso, Cortez, Las Casus, 
Herrcra, Torquemada, Remesal, Cogolludo, Wytfliet, Do Laet, 
Ogilby, Yillagutierre, Sanson, Moll, Jefferys, Navarette, Juarros, 
Linschoten, Botero, Hakluyt, Purchas, Alccdo, etc. I have 
caused all these to be carefully examined, and compared with 
many other writers — Spanish, English, Dutch, and French. 
The following facts are derived chiefly from the above sources. 

Columbus, in his fourth voyage, first made land on the North 
American continent at Cape Honduras, near the present town of 
Truxillo, on the 17th of August, 1502'; and thence, proceeding 
easterly, shortly afterwards entered the mouth of Black River. 
and, in accordance with his instructions, landed and took formal 
possession of the country, in the presence of the unresisting na- 
tives, in the name of the crown of Castile. In the early Spanish 
maps this river is called the Rio del Possession, a name given to it 
by Columbus himself, in commemoration of this event. He next 
touched and took possession at Cape Gracias a Dios, where he 
remained a short time, holding friendly intercourse with the 
natives, whom he described more favorably than he did their 
country. Thence he coasted leisurely southward toward Veia- 
gua, communicating often Avith the inhabitants, and touching 
particularly at the Blucfields River and at the mouth of the San 
Juan. 

The result of this voyage being known in Spain, expeditions 
were fitted out, at different times, under various commanders, 
which reconnoitred thoroughly the entire coast from Daricn to 



200 APPENDIX. 

the Bay of Honduras, penetrating even to the extremity of Golf 
Dolce, and thence along the coast of Yucatan. Much intercourse 
was held with the natives, and every river and bay was pene- 
trated to find the supposed strait to the land beyond the Ganges ; 
for this country was then believed to be an island, or part of 
India, and the Spaniards were not fully disabused of the idea 
until the discovery of the Pacific by Balboa in 1512. After this 
event expeditions sailed, from year to year, along both the 
Atlantic and Pacific coasts, with the double purpose of discover- 
ing the supposed passage connecting the two oceans, and of ex- 
ploring, conquering, and settling the country. And so rapidly 
were the latter objects accomplished, that, by the year 1530, not 
only the Pacific coast, from Panama to the Gulf of Fonseca, had 
been reconnoitred, but the interior, from Tehuantepec to Veragua, 
had been crossed and recrossed, many tribes of Indians had been 
subjected, and towns had been built, under the commands of the 
two D'Avilas, Olid, Francis de Las Casas, Cortez, Alvaredo, 
Gringalsa, Cordova, Roxas, Montejo, etc. From the nature of 
the country, as I have already described it, the principal settle- 
ments were made near the Pacific coast ; but the Spaniards did 
not neglect to consummate their title on the eastern shore. 
Truxillo, Omoa, and other towns on the Bay of Honduras were 
founded in 1524. Roxas attempted a settlement at Cape Gracias 
a Dios in 1530, which he found impracticable from the nature of 
the country. Merida was founded in 1542 ; Valladolid, in 1526, 
and rebuilt in 1543 ; Campechc, in 1540. And in the interior 
many towns were built, as Olaucho, Comayagua, Segovia, etc. 
Before 1530 the greater proportion of the very numerous tribes 
of Indians were subjected to the Spanish authorities, either by 
the military or the ecclesiastical power ; for, after the coming of 
Las Casas, the missionaries did nearly as much as the soldiers in 
controlling the aborigines. Nicaragua and Honduras are reported 
to have been most densely populated at the time of the discovery ; 
but scarcely half a century had elapsed before nearly nine tenths 
of the natives had faded away before their bloody conquerors. 
As early as 1524 Cortez wrote to the Emperor Charles V. that 
only two of the many tribes of Honduras remained unconquered. 
Shortly after, these yielded to the power of Alvaredo. Some fled 
to the mountains and the country now known as Mosquito, where 
they remained unmolested, protected by their own weakness, and 









APPENDIX. 201 

by the want of mineral wealth in the soil on which they had taken 
refuge. They were shielded, too, by a still stronger arm. Spain, 
ever jealous of the interference of other European powers in her 
traffic, left this region unsettled, to be a barrier between the 
Atlantic and the golden regions of the west. But, though she 
neglected to cultivate, she never neglected to protect and defend. 
Guarda costa were early established to protect the coast, and 
watch over the argosies as they set sail for the Old World. 

The natives of Mosquito were thenceforward constantly under 
the influence both of the Franciscan and Dominican orders of 
missionaries. From 1575 to a very late period Spanish mission- 
aries almost always resided, by order of government, among the 
numerous tribes of Mosquito. Sometimes as many as twenty 
at a time were there, exerting a great influence in softening the 
barbarity of those savage tribes. It is true that many of them 
were subjected to the most revolting cruelties, and suffered death 
itself ; yet, in almost every instance, these were caused by the 
hostilities and treacheries of these warlike tribes among them- 
selves, and not, as the English writers assert, by their hatred of 
the Spanish yoke. The missionary was destroyed, not by the 
tribe with which he lived, but by its enemies. Fortunately, the 
histories of the Franciscan and Dominican orders give ample 
details of these extraordinary missions. 

I think I have now established all I promised with reference to 
the discovery, conquest, and settlement of this country by Spain. 
It is not to be concealed, however, that the exaggerated accounts 
of her wealth and the value of her commerce soon attracted hos- 
tile parties to these shores, who, in process of time, increased 
in power, and became the foundation for claims adverse to her 
territorial rights on the Mosquito Coast. This brings me to a 
notice of the Buccaneers, or pirates, of the West Indies. 

The early Buccaneers were composed of English. French. Dutch. 
and Portuguese adventurers. The private enterprises of Drake 
and his contemporaries are well known. Like all other Buccaneer 
adventures for half a century later, they were directed against 
the Spaniards, only because Spain was the wealthiest and most 
commercial nation, and therefore the best object of plunder. 
During time of war (and it should be borne in mind that Spain 
A\as almost constantly at war with some European power) these 
pirates managed to get from unscrupulous governments letters of 



202 APPENDIX. 

reprisal, and sometimes sailed under English, sometimes under 
French, sometimes under Dutch, and sometimes under Portu- 
guese commissions, as the case might be. Spain treated them 
all alike as pirates. England, in those days, so far from availing 
herself of their acts, disclaimed them. The Spanish ambassador 
at London repeatedly remonstrated against their depredations, 
and was always met with a disavowal. By the time of Cromwell 
they had become very numerous. Spain increased her guarda 
costa, and sought to protect herself by destroying them ; but this 
only served to unite all shades and nations together under a kind 
of piratical republic of the sea. Meanwhile England, France, and 
Holland had each gained a footing in the West Indies. The pirates 
had grown so numerous that no power was exempted from their 
depredations. England felt their influence, and was about nego- 
tiating with Spain for their overthrow, when the difficulties be- 
tween Charles and his Parliament interfered to prevent. When 
the negotiations were renewed with Cromwell, he put off the con- 
clusion of a treaty till lie could secure some conquest in the West 
Indies, and despatched secretly an expedition against Cuba, which, 
failing in its object, won Jamaica in 1655 to English dominion. 
Then England offered to negotiate and define the respective rights 
of England and Spain, but the latter refused. Immediately after 
the conquest of Jamaica, the governors of that island turned their 
attention to the pirates, and, finding their reduction too difficult a 
work, sought to take advantage by regulation, of what they could 
not destroy by force. The stringent measures they took induced 
many to abandon their dangerous avocation, and retire to the 
Indians of Yucatan, Honduras, and Nicaragua, with whom they 
had been in intercourse for many years ; and hence the great 
increase of the English trade in logwood and, subsequently, in 
mahogany. The Mosquito Indians about Cape Gracias a Dios 
had been repeatedly stimulated by the Dutch, French, and Eng- 
lish adventurers, during the several wars against Spain, to join 
in the expeditions against the Spanish settlements, and, indeed, 
were on such friendly terms with all, that each claims the priority 
of intimacy with them. The earliest known attempt of the English 
to tamper with them was under Sir Thomas Modyford, Governor 
of Jamaica, about 1667 [?]. His proceedings were not approved, 
and in 1670 [?] he was arrested and sent to England. The 
illicit trade in logwood and other things, from Campeche to the 



APPENDIX. 203 

Bay of Honduras and the Mosquito Country, had become so offen- 
sive to Spain — who feared that it might cover a permanent occu- 
pation — that she was induced to enter into the treaty of 1070, 
which yields to England the islands she had conquered in the 
West Indies, defines for the first time the respective rights of the 
parties, and has been made the basis of all subsequent treaties. 
This brings me to the second position of the British Government. 

By the seventh article of the Treaty of Madrid, " it is agreed thai 
the most serene King of Great Britain, his heirs and successors, 
shall have, hold, keep, and enjoy forever, with plenary rigid of 
sovereignty, dominion, possession, and propriety, all those lands, 
regions, islands, colonies, and places, whatsoever, being or situ- 
ated in the West Indies, or any part of America, which the said 
King of Great Britain or his subjects do at present hold and 
possess." It is plainly of great importance to the present inquiry 
to determine wdiat lands, regions, islands, colonics, or places 
King Charles or his subjects held or possessed in America on the 
conclusion of that treaty. 

Now, it is evident that this article was inserted in the treaty to 
determine a previous conflict of claims to sovereignty by the fact 
of existing possession, and that, where the claims of the parties 
had not come in conflict, it had no validity. Leaving out of view 
all the American continent to the north or south of Central 
America and the Indies, it is well known that the title to Jamaica 
was in dispute, and that this article was expressly inserted to 
settle it by confirming England's occupation. Had it any refer- 
ence, beyond that, to Mosquito ? After the [(receding review 1 
think I am warranted in saying it had not : because, in the first 
place, I am unable to find that the sovereignty had ever been in 
dispute; and because, in the second place, the only possession ap- 
proaching a hostility to Spanish right was that of the Buccaneers, 
composed of all nations, — which was not continuous, which was 
piratical and therefore clearly illegal, which was disavowed by 
England and therefore cannot inure to her, and which was 
made in admission of Spain's title, since it was a war upon 
Spain. 

And further: Great Britain does not now claim ever to 
have "held" or "possessed" Mosquito. To adopt a little <>!" 
Lord Palmerston's severity of criticism on the language of 
treaties, I say that the terms " hold " and " possess " have deli- 



204 APPENDIX. 

nite meanings in international law ; that they imply title, either 
temporary — as in the case of violent occupation in the time 
of war — or permanent, to which occupation is not a necessary 
incident. The claim under which Great Britain shelters the 
illegal occupation of Mosquito by the English is not set up in 
itself, but in a monarch of its creation, who is alleged to reign 
under its protection. 

The political relation of protector and protected is not a new 
one. It grows out of contract. It implies sovereignty in each 
party ; for, when the sovereignty of the lesser merges in that of 
the greater, the peculiar relation ceases. Any occupation, there- 
fore, by the English, at any time, must have been (by their own 
showing) as under Mosquito. Any possession must have been 
the possession of Mosquito. And when that possession is demon- 
strated to be not adverse to, but under Spain, their title, being that 
of a privy in estate, must take the same course. 

Any light in which we view this claim presents a tissue of in- 
consistencies. To defeat the Spanish title, it is alleged that the 
Indians are an independent nation whom Spain could never con- 
quer ; while, on the other hand, to let in Great Britain to the 
benefit of such a defeat, it is said that her protection is necessary 
to enable them to protect themselves against the Spaniard. 
Either they are an independent nation, capable of existing with- 
out this protection, and therefore not entitled to it, or the aid has 
been rendered in bad faith, to maintain a tribe of savages in 
revolt against their sovereign. 

The contemporaneous construction of the treaty of Madrid 
shows that the right of Spain to the whole of Central America 
was not questioned. Sir William Godolphin, the ambassador to 
Spain who negotiated and signed the treaty on the part of Great 
Britain on the 10th — 20th May, 1672, wrote to Lord Arlington 
from Madrid as follows : — 

" Your Lordship hath required my opinion touching the cut- 
ting of logwood in the "West Indies by some English, on pre- 
tence that the parts where they take the same are not inhab- 
ited or possessed by the Spaniards. ... In answer, . . . the 
said wood is brought from Yucatan, a large province of New 
Spayne, extending into the North Sea like to a peninsula, about 
a hundred leagues in length, sufficiently peopled in respect of 
other places of those Indies, haveing several good towns, as 



APPENDIX. 205 

Merida, Valladolid, San Francisco do Campeche, etc., the gov- 
ernment thereof being likewise esteemed one of the most consid- 
erable there, next to the two vice-royaltyes of Peru and Mexico. 
. . . Now, this wood, growing on the northern coast of Yuca- 
tan, ... is commonly called here, Campeche wood. . . . This 
being premised, we may reasonably conclude the crowne of Spayne 
to have as well too much right as advantage in these woods nol 
to assert the propriety of them ; for though, perhaps, they are not 
all inhabited (which is not to be admired) or distinguished into 
particular tenements, but remaine in common, yet they are in 
gencrall possessed by these people, who may as justly pretend to 
make use of our rivers, mountains, and other commons, for not 
being inhabited or owned by individual proprietors, as we can to 
enjoy any benefitt of those woods. 

" And this is the sense of all the Spaniards, who esteeme them- 
selves in full possession of every part of that province, notwith- 
standing that it containeth much territory unpeopled, since (as I 
have said) to inhabit and possesse are distinct ; neither is the 
former essentiall to the latter. 

" Lastly, what will render the pretension to a frcedome of cut- 
ting this wood more odious to the Spaniards is, that in conse- 
quence thereof, and for the same reason, wee may inferre a lib- 
erty to inhabit there, opening a doore to any further attempt 
wee may designe against theire continent. 

• ••• • * ■ a 

" Thus much to the merritts of the cause and the point of strict 
justice. 

" But now, after all this, I will venture to give my opinion that 
if the English, in the cutting wood at Campeche, would restrain 
themselves to that alone, observing to doe it in parts neerest to 
the sea, more remote from their townes, . . . and without making 
inroads or other depredations on the country, it may be adviseable 
for His Majy, though not to authorize, yet to connive ; . . . sure, 
for when they (the Spaniards) see the American treaty in other 
points punctually complyed with, and no other spoyle committed 
than the bare cutting of that wood, . . . they may be induced to 
connive likewise." 

When it is remembered that, up to this time, all geographers 
conceded, or rather never doubted, the right of Spain to the whol<- 



206 APPENDIX. 

of this part of the continent ; that that right had been intruded 
on only by the Buccaneers ; and that these intrusions had been 
confined to Yucatan and its neighborhood, and had not yet ex- 
tended as far south as Mosquito, which was a part of New Spain, 
of which " the Spaniards then esteemed themselves in full posses- 
sion of every part," the completeness of the testimony will be 
understood, and its almost prophetic nature appreciated. And I 
am prepared to show, in addition, that the connivance of the gov- 
ernors of Jamaica in such cutting and encroachments was encour- 
aged and approved in London. 

I shall now assume it to be clearly proved that in 1670, while 
the English had no right, either directly or indirectly, in Mosquito, 
Spain held undoubted sovereignty over it ; and shall travel for- 
ward to the year 1739, when hostilities commenced between Great 
Britain and Spain, during which a permanent occupation of this 
country by the former power was for the first time attempted. 
Most of the acts of occupation or protection (for they sometimes 
take the one form and sometimes the other) on the part of Eng- 
land, took place between this date and the Peace of Paris, in 
1763, and were either done during a time of hostilities, or were 
themselves causes of a subsequent war. It is plain, therefore, 
that, being aggressive, they cannot now be used by Great Britain 
to set up the alleged title in the Indians. 

On the 19th of October, 1739, war was declared against Spain, 
ostensibly because she had neglected to pay the paltry balance 
of .£95,000, according to treaty ; but the real object of the British 
colonists appears to have been to gain a stronger footing in the 
West Indies before concluding a peace. On the 17th of August, 
1740, Sir William Pulteney, of the admiralty, wrote to Admiral 
Vernon, then in the West Indies, a long letter detailing the plans 
of the government. He says : — 

" To ravage the coast of Spain (supposing we could do it) 
seems to be with a desire only of forcing the Spaniards into a 
peace before we have secured such advantages as we may rea- 
sonably hope for in another place. Every man of sense agrees 
that the only place to push them in is the West Indies ; and there 
we can be too hard for them, and may defy the whole world 
besides. . . . We [England], one and all, cry out, there is no 
dependence on the faith of treaties ; something must be done to 
keep the Spaniards from insulting us again ; and we must no 



APPENDIX. 207 

longer rely on bare promises only for the security of our n;i\ iga- 
tion and commerce. Take and hold, is the cry. This plainly 
points to Cuba. ... It [the taking of Carthagena] might be 
a very sensible mischief to Spain; but what we now imme- 
diately want is advantage to ourselves. 

...... 

" When we are once possessed of it [Cuba] the whole world will 
not be able to dispossess us again. We may then make peace 
with Spain without the intervention of France, giving them 
almost everything in Europe they may desire, but, showing them, 
at the same time, they shall in great measure depend on us, the 
chief maritime power, and convincing them of the truth of their 
own old proverb : Peace ivith England, and war with the whole 
world" 

During the years 1739 and 1740 many projects were framed 
for the purpose of gaining the desired footing in the West Indies, 
— for the accounts of the wonderful details of which we arc in- 
debted to the principal actors in them, many of whose most 
confidential letters, owing to private quarrels, have been pub- 
lished. In addition to these, I have been permitted to examine 
the original Vernon and Wager manuscripts, a collection em- 
bodying, in the original, official as well as private letters of the 
Duke of Newcastle, of Sir Charles Wager, of Admiral Vernon, 
of Sir William Pulteney, of Governor Trelawney, of Mr. Robert 
Hodgson, and of many others, — a mass of authentic informa- 
tion never published, and not existing anywhere else, unless in 
Her Majesty's State Paper Office. I am happy to say that this 
collection will probably go to America, as it is now owned by an 
American gentleman. 

As soon as hostilities were determined upon, the Duke of New- 
castle (on the 15th June, 1739) directed Governor Trelawney to 
be on his guard against any attempt of the Spaniards against 
Jamaica, and gave him full power and liberty to annoy the enemy. 
He directed him also to encourage the taking out letters of 
marque and reprisal against the Spaniards, and to authorize 
descents upon the Spanish settlements. 

On the receipt of these orders Governor Trelawney at once 
revived the old scheme of the Mosquito Indians, and on the 20th 
of January, 1739-40, wrote to the Duke of Newcastle advising a 
settlement on the Mosquito Shore. About one hundred English- 



208 APPENDIX. 

men, he said, were there, " mostly such as could live nowhere 
else." He proposed to bring all the English in that quarter 
together in one settlement, so that, by the help of the Mosquito 
Indians, whom he calls his " friends," they might induce the 
neighboring Indians to revolt, and thus, by supporting the Indians 
" a little, spread the revolt from one part to another, till it should 
be general over the Indies, and drive the Spaniards entirely out, 
or cut them off." Accordingly, early in 1740, he commenced his 
Quixotic scheme by sending one Robert Hodgson to the Mosquito 
Shore, fully equipped with everything necessary to enable him to 
tamper with the Indians and excite them against the Spaniards. 
I am fortunately enabled to give, from the Vernon manuscripts, 
Mr. Hodgson's own account of what he did under this extraor- 
dinary commission. 

Sandy Bat, April 8, 1740. 
" May it please tour Excellency, . . . 

. . King Edward, being informed of my arrival, sent me word that 
he would see me the next day, which he did, attended by several of his 
captains. I read to him your Excellency's letter and my own com- 
mission, and, when I had explained them by an interpreter, told my 
errand, anS recommended to them to seek all opportunities of culti- 
vating friendship and union with the neighboring Indian nations, — 
and especially such as were under subjection to the Spaniards, — and 
of helping them to recover their freedom. They approved everything 
I said, and appointed the 16th to meet the governor, John Briton, 
and his captains, at the same place, to hear what I had further to 
say. 

" On the 16th they all came, except Admiral Dilly and Colonel Mor- 
gan, who were sick. General Hobby and his captains were at too great 
a distance to be sent for ; but, their presence not being material, I pro- 
ceeded to acquaint them that, as they had long acknowledged them- 
selves subjects of Great Britain, the Governor of Jamaica had sent me 
to take possession of their country in His Majesty's name ; then asked if 
they had anything to object. They answered, they had nothing to say 
against it, but were very glad I was come for that purpose. So I im- 
mediately set up the standard, and, reducing the sum of what I had 
said into articles, I asked them, both jointly and separately, if they 
approved and would abide by them. They unanimously declared 
they would. So I had them read over again, in a solemn manner, 
under the colours ; at the end of every article fired a gun ; and con- 
cluded with cutting up a turf, and promising to defend their country, 



APPENDIX. 209 

and to procure them all the assistance and instruction from England 
in my power. 

"The formality, all this was done with, seemed to have a good in- 
fluence upon them, for they often repeated their desire of learning to 
read, and said they must now mind their kings more than they had 
done, and do all they could to help themselves and hurt the Spaniards, 
to whom I recommended all the mercy that was consistent with their 
own safety; but they seemed not to understand me rightly, saying, if 
they fight they must kill. The articles I enclose, and hope your Ex- 
cellency will excuse so much ceremony ; for, as I had no certain infor- 
mation whether the country was ever taken possession of before, or (•Ma- 
claimed otherwise than by sending them down commissions, I thought 
the more voluntary and clear the cession of it was, the better, 'flic 
governor came, attended with a numerous guard, who behaved to him 
with much respect and silence. [?] lie is a sensible old man, and car- 
ries a good command. The king, being very young, — I believe not 
twenty, — is not much observed ; but was he to be awhile in 
Jamaica or England, 'tis thought he would make a hopeful monarch 
enough. 



» 



"The same day Admiral Dilly and Colonel Morgan sent me 
word they were coming to wait on me. I immediately crossed the 
lagune to meet them, hearing they were sensible, clever fellows ; 
and such I found them. They had despatched a message to the Gov- 
ernor to meet them the next day to hold a general and decisive 
council. 

"They all met on Sunday the 23rd, at Senock Dawkra (Mr. White- 
head's house). The governor, being sick, tried our patience by mak- 
ing us wait till the afternoon, but, when he came, made ample amends 
by the justness of his sentiments. 

"He told the king and his captains it was plain they had got a 
name and the good opinion of the Governor of Jamaica (whose suc- 
cess against the rebellious negroes they had all heard of) ; ami, if 
they did not keep it up, what would the world say of them? There 
was an officer now sent down by your Excellency to observe their 
manner of fighting, and, if they did not do their best, they should loa- 
the favor of the English. It was true they were but a small number 
of people compared to us, who had men to spare for sickness and the 
sword ; but, if they showed themselves worthy, no doubt the King of 
Britain would send a force sufficient to get them all they wan 
besides teachers to instruct them in what is right and good. He 
said General Hobby had often talked about taking towns in time of 
peace, and called the English cowards; now it was war, they must 

14 



210 APPENDIX. 

show they were not such themselves ; that the English were the best 
judges when war or peace was proper ; and none of them had any 
business to act otherwise than they were directed by the Governor of 
Jamaica. . . . 

" I find my counsel about sobriety has had some weight with the 
old men ; but the young ones are got together there since, with the 
women, into drinking bouts. They intoxicate themselves with a 
liquor made of honey, pineapples, and cassada ; and, if they avoid 
quarrels, which often happen, they are sure to have fine promiscuous 
doings among the girls. The old women, I am told, have the liberty 
of chewing the cassada before it is put in, that they may have a chance 
in the general rape as well as the young ones. 

" I fell into one of them by mere accident last Monday, where I 
found Admiral Dilley and Colonel Morgan retailing my advice among 
them to little effect ; for most of them were too drunk to mind it, and 
so hideously painted that I quickly left them, to avoid being daubed 
all over, — which is the compliment they usually pay their visitors 
on those occasions. 

"Those two captains complain much of their drinking, but say 
it has been taught them by the English ; others say not, for how 
should the English invent the pine and cassada drink? Their resent- 
ment of adultery has lost its edge, too, more than among other 
Indians. That, I make no doubt, they are obliged to us for. Their 
breach of promises in their bargains, I take to be a good deal 
owing to a sense of being defrauded by traders ; but, through their 
ignorance of numbers and value, not being able to tell how, they are 
apt to make improper reprisals. As for their laziness, the grand pro- 
moter of the rest, I really think it must have been owing to their dis- 
content at the usage they have received from privateers and others, 
because I do not find it has been epidemical amongst them till 
lately. 

" I have disposed of several presents ; but their returns being 
chiefly in visits to get more, or to drink punch, [ have stopped my 
hand. The Lubec duck, osnaburgs, powder, ball, flints, and shot, I 
shall divide among them at setting out, with a promise that they shall 
pay me according to their behavior or their plunder. . . . 

Robert Hodgson. 
April 12, 1740. 

" P. S. Had I been better informed, I might have made a little for- 
tune out of your Excellency's money, and done more justice to the 
cause ; for the Moskito men have not got half guns enough, so must be 



APPENDIX. 21 1 

supplied by Stewart and the other white men that go with us, who, 
no doubt, will make them pay sound." . . . 

The origin, character, history, and results of the British in- 
trigues in this quarter are all disclosed in this letter. They origi- 
nated in public and private cupidity, in the desire of territorial 
aggrandizement, and of personal gain to the Governor of Jamaica. 
They were pursued in the same spirit, by the distribution of intox- 
icating liquors and missiles of destruction among the savages, and 
by exciting them to an unnatural war against the Spaniards. They 
resulted in the complete degradation of the Indians themsch 
a degradation which they have never been able to shake off. Yet 
this is the " protection " Great Britain sets up and seeks to 
perpetuate. 

Mr. Hodgson skilfully aroused the old resentment of the 
Indians against the Spaniards, and induced them to join him in 
an expedition which proved a failure. He, however, remained 
among them, and was instructed by Governor Trelawney " to en- 
deavor to persuade the Indians to form themselves into some sort 
of a government." 

Meanwhile the home government had the scheme under consid- 
eration, and approved of it. But Sir Charles Wager had fallen 
in with another adventurer, named Lee, and wrote to Admiral 
Vernon from the admiralty office as follows, under date May 23, 
1741 : " I sent Governor Trelawney, by the last ships, some ac- 
counts I had from one Captain Lee, who was sometime a factor 
to the South Sea Company at Guatimalla, of the particular situ- 
ation, riches, and trade of that part of the continent, which is 
much more than I imagined. The Governor's Don Quixotte, Mr. 
Hodgson, seemed to want this Captain Lee with him, and 1 could 
have seen him, had it not been for some difficulties ; but I had 
his scheme in writing, and sent it to Plymouth, but the ships 
were gone before it came there." 

Again, on the 18th of August following, he wrote to the 
Admiral thus : "I sent you by the last ships a scheme of Captain 
Lee for a proper number of soldiers, when they can be spared, or 
can do nothing more considerable, to go down to the Musquitos, 
and, with or without them, to make attempt on the Spaniards up 
the River Dulce, where Captain Lee seems perfectly acquainted. 
But, as we have made him captain of the Bonetta sloop, purely for 
the sake of this scheme only, I refer you to him for a clear expliea- 



212 APPENDIX. 

tion of the whole scheme, which, in its consequences, may be 
much more considerable than it appears at first sight ; for, if we 
can procure a sufficient number of arms for the Indians who are 
able and willing, as he says, to pay for them, — though that is not 
material, — they would soon make themselves their own masters, 
and drive all the Spaniards out of the country, or change con- 
ditions with them, and make them the hewers of wood and 
drawers of water. And this, I think, they may do, if supplied 
with arms and all things necessary, more easily than the Spaniards 
conquered them [the italics are mine, except the word Span- 
iards], for if once there was a considerable insurrection of 
the Indians about Guatimalla and that country, in which the 
Musquito men may perhaps be persuaded to join with them, there 
would soon be an insurrection both in Mexico and Peru, — of 
which the Spanish Court has been very much afraid, especially 
in Peru and Chili, where it is not improbable but the Creole 
Spaniards would soon join with them, and set up a king of their 
own." 

Asain, on the 20th of the same month, and still again on the 
7th of October following, he wrote to Admiral Vernon, reiterating 
these views in almost the same language. These letters, as well 
as that of Mr. Hodgson, expose the manner and the object of 
the British tampering with the Indians. 

In 1743 these " schemes" had so far progressed that Governor 
Trelawney recommended that a company of troops should be 
kept at the Mosquito Shore, and that some sort of government 
should be established there. And the Governor encouraged 
emigration there, and tried to get permission from the govern- 
ment to grant lands, and thus induce settlement ; but the Board 
of Trade did not approve of this. 

On the 19th of July, 1744, notwithstanding the discouraging 
report of the Board of Trade as to the rights of Spain, an order 
passed the council detaching a certain number of troops from 
Jamaica for the Mosquito Shore, and providing for the erection of 
forts and the establishment of a government. In February, 
1748, there was another order in council for sending a supply of 
ordnance to the " new settlement on the Mosquito Shore," to the 
amount of £1,528. 18s. Id. 

The fort at Black River was completed in 1747, so that Governor 
Trelawney was confident that, should the Spaniards make a 



APPENDIX. 2 1 3 

descent upon the Mosquito Shore, as was expected, in the sum- 
mer of 1748, it " would be able not only to defend itself, but to 
annoy the enemy." 

During all this time (i. e., from 17-i9 to the Peace of Aix la 
Chapelle) I do not learn that the Spaniards made any direct 
attempt to dislodge the English from the Mosquito Shore, excepl 
by an expedition from Nicaragua in 1747, which was a failure. 
The reason was, they were busily engaged in more important 
places. 

Matters were not changed by this peace. The English gained 
no new rights. They nevertheless determined to maintain their 
settlement, and in October, 1749, the King appointed Captain 
Hodgson "to regulate and superintend the settlement on the 
Mesquito Shore, which has been subsisting several years under 
the protection of our friends and allies, the Mosquito Indians." 
Captain Hodgson was to put himself under the direction of the 
Governor of Jamaica, and to correspond with him. One cannot 
but admire the facility with which the relation of the Indians 
shifts from protectors to protected, to suit the exigencies of the 
case. 

In 1750 and 1751 the Spanish authorities remonstrated against 
these proceedings, asserted their rights, and threatened an expul- 
sion of the English. Governor Trelawney, alarmed at the aspect 
of affairs, sent Hodgson an artful set of instructions for his con- 
duct towards the Indians, which were to be shown to the Presi- 
dent of Guatemala, to cause him to believe that the object of the 
English in keeping a superintendent among the Indians was to 
restrain them in their hostilities against the Spaniards ; but, upon 
their being presented to him, he protested against the English in- 
terference, and proposed sending a Spanish agent or governor 
among the Indians. In reply Hodgson wrote to him, on the 3rd 
of December, 1750, that he was already there as a superintendent, 
appointed by the Governor of Jamaica to protect the Spaniards, 
as they could not protect themselves, and asserted that the Indians 
were free, never having been conquered by Spain. 

In 1751 an attack by the Spaniards was apprehended at the 
Shore ; but only a missionary was sent among the Indians, named 
Juan Joseph Solis de Meranda, who reported that hostilities 
would not be commenced if he were allowed to remain among 
the Indians. This was at first granted ; but the English soon 



214 APPENDIX. 

perceiving the influence he was gaining over the natives, to their 
great prejudice, arrested him, under pretence of his being an im- 
postor, and sent him to Jamaica. It now came to the knowledge 
of the Governor of Jamaica that the Spaniards were making prep- 
arations for invading the Mosquito Shore, and driving the English 
from it. The settlers became alarmed, and demanded that the 
detachment of soldiers should be withdrawn. The Governor, 
on his part, proposed that the fort should be demolished, rather 
than give umbrage to the Spaniards. 

In 1752 Governor Knowles succeeded Governor Trelawney. 
He took a different view of the rights of the Mosquito Indians, 
restored Father Solis, and seemed determined to expose these 
transactions. He entered into a correspondence with the Gover- 
nor of Guatemala, and proposed a cessation of hostilities till he 
could hear from England. On the 26th of March, 1753, he wrote 
to the Secretary of State that the settlement on the Mosquito 
Shore was " a job ; " that, if Captain Hodgson was not checked 
or recalled, he " would involve the nation in difficulties ; " that 
the Indians were so perplexed they did " not know which part 
to take ; " and that he should advise withdrawing the troops, un- 
less the ministry intended to maintain the right to the territories, 
which he thought was not worth contending about. 

During Governor Knowles's administration the condition of 
things improved, but he was not allowed to remain long. On 
his departure they fell back into the old channel, the English 
covertly acting the part of aggressors, the Spaniards resisting by 
protest and by force, until the Treaty of Paris in 1763 ; except 
that in 1759 the Indians took up arms against the English, being 
discontented with their treatment of them and disgusted with the 
course of Captain Hodgson ; and except, also, that this latter 
year was signalized by a communication from the Board of 
Trade, ignoring the existence of any British settlement on the 
Mosquito Shore, and declining, therefore, to entertain complaints 
against officers of the crown for acts done there. 

The Treaty of Paris assumes to define the respective rights of 
the parties in Central America. By Article 18 it is provided that 
" His Britannic Majesty shall cause to be demolished all fortifica- 
tions which his subjects shall have erected in the Bay of Hondu- 
ras, and other places of the territory of Spain in that part of the 
world" etc. ; and then the right is given to the English to cut log- 



A PPENDIX. 2 I 5 

wood on the " Spanish coasts and territories." In accordance 
with this provision, all the British fortifications in Mosquito were 
demolished, and the troops removed; but the settlers remained 
hoth there and in Honduras, for the purpose of cutting and carrying 
away logwood, and marking their residence by repeated aggressions 
similar to those already described, — which I can give you in 
detail, if you desire it. In 1783, at the close of the contests 
which accompanied the American Revolution, it was found neces- 
sary to define more particularly the rights of the English cutters, 
which is accordingly done by the Gth Article of the Treaty of Ver- 
sailles, where it is provided that " the intention of the two high 
contracting parties being to prevent, as much as possible, all the 
causes of complaint and misunderstanding heretofore occasioned 
by the cutting of wood for dyeing, or logwood, and several English 
settlements having been formed and extended under that pretence 
upon the Spanish Continent, it is expressly agreed that His Britan- 
nic Majesty's subjects shall have the right of cutting,'' etc., ^de- 
fining the limits about the Belize within which the right might lie 
exercised) : " and His Catholic Majesty assures to them the enjoy- 
ment of all that is expressed within the present article, provided 
that these stipulations shall not be considered as derogating in any- 
wise from his right of sovereignty." And then it was provided 
that, within eighteen months from the ratification, the English 
should wholly retire from the Spanish continent and islam Is, to 
the spot allotted to them. This the English were understood, 
at the time, to have received as a compensation for aba ndoni Qg 
Mosquito. 

It is now claimed by Great Britain that, before the conclusion 
of this treaty, Mosquito had become an independent nation, and 
therefore was not embraced within its provisions. The argument 
upon which this' is founded involves the consideration of the 
English title. 

Starting from the position that the Indians had never been 
conquered, and therefore were not within Spanish jurisdiction 
(the fallacy of which I have already shown), all English 
writers rely on these, and only these, circumstances to establish 
the Mosquito protectorate, — all of which are stated by Lord 
Palmerston in his note to M. Castellon of July 1G, 1849: 1st. 
A submission by the Mosquito King to the Governor of Jamaica, 
on behalf of the King of England, in IG8T, founded on an allege,! 



216 APPENDIX. 

prior submission between 1645 and 1660. 2nd. A convention be- 
tween the Governor of Jamaica and the King of the Mosquitos, 
concluded June 25, 1720. 3rd. Certain reports and resolutions 
made in 1774 in the House of Assembly of Jamaica. 

To all this I might reply that the Mosquitos could not of them- 
selves change their political connection ; that, not being an inde- 
pendent nation, all acts done by them as such are void ; that the 
demolition of fortifications shows England's construction of the 
Treaty of Paris ; and that the Treaty of Versailles uses the broad 
language of the " Spanish Continent" and affirms Spanish sov- 
ereignty. Without dwelling upon these apparent considerations, 
I turn to the authorities relied upon for these positions. 

And as to the first, I find that all writers refer for proof to an 
account of the matter given by Sir Hans Sloane, who was in 
Jamaica at the time of the alleged submission to the Duke of 
Albemarle, the Governor, and was his family physician, and 
of course in a position to know all about it. The authority most 
often cited is a memoir by Bryan Edwards, entitled " Some ac- 
count of the British settlements on the Mosquito Shore, drawn 
up for the use of Government in 1773." The history of this 
memoir is a little curious. It purports to have been drawn up 
for the use of Government in 1773. It was printed anonymously, 
and was, in 1776, laid before Parliament, with the case of the 
Morning Star, to which I shall soon allude. The treaties of 
1783 and 1786 having been concluded, the subject dropped. 
Twenty years afterwards Mr. Edwards published his " History of 
the West Indies," in one of the foot-notes to which he stated 
that, the settlements in Mosquito having been surrendered to Sjmin 
by the Treaty of 1786, it did not come within the plan of his work 
to treat of them, but referred all curious on the subject to this 
memorial. In 1819, in the fifth edition of his history (the first 
published after his death), this memorial was for the first time 
printed with the history, and under his name. It is now repro- 
duced by the Foreign Office in the " correspondence," etc., on this 
subject, submitted to Parliament in 1848. That you may see 
how history has been perverted, I give you, in parallel columns, 
what Sir Hans Sloane really did say (copied from his printed 
history), and what Mr. Edwards represents him as saying. 



APPENDIX. 



217 



Sir Hans Sloane. 

" One King Jeremy came from 
the Muskitos (an Indian people 
near the provinces of Nicaragua, 
Honduras, and Costa Rica) ; he 
pretended to be a king there, 
and came from the others of his 
country to beg of the Duke of 
Albemarle, Governor of Jamaica, 
his protection, and that he would 
send a governor thither with a 
power to war on the Spaniards 
and pirates. This he alleged to 
be due to his country from the 
crown of England, who had, in 
the reign of King Charles I., sub- 
mitted itself to him. The Duke 
of Albemarle did nothing in this 
matter, being afraid it might be 
a trick of some people to set up 
a government for Buccaneers or 
pirates. This King Jeremy, in 
coming to town, asking many 
questions about the island, and 
not receiving, as he thought, a 
satisfactory account, he pulled off 
his European clothes his friends 
had put on, and climbed to the 
top of a tree to take a view of 
the country. 

" The memorial and substance 
of what he and the people with 
him represented to the Duke of 
Albemarle was, that in the reign 
of Charles I., of ever-blessed mem- 
ory, the Earl of Warwick (by vir- 
tue of letters of reprisal granted 
by his said Majesty for damages 
received from the subjects of His 
Catholic Majesty) did possess 
himself of several islands in the 
West Indies, particularly that of 
Providence (since called by the 



Mr. Edwards. 



"'The memorial and substance,' 
says Sir Hans, 'of what he (the 
Mosquito king) and the people 
with him represented to the Duke 
of Albemarle was, that in the 
reign of Charles I. the Earl of 
Warwick, by virtue of letters of 
reprisal, possessed himself of sev- 
eral islands in the Wesl Indies, 
particularly that, of Providence 
(since called by the Spaniards 
St. Catalina), which is situated 
13° 10' north latitude, lying east 



218 



APPENDIX. 



Spaniards St. Catalina), which is from Cape Gracias a Dios (vulgarly 

situate in 13° 10' north latitude, known by the name of the Mos- 

lying east from Cape Gracias de quitos), between thirty and forty 

Dios (vulgarly known by the leagues, which put the said Earl 

name of the Muskitos), be- upon all ways and means of future 

tween thirty and forty leagues, correspondence with the natives 

which put the said Earl upon of the said cape and neighboring 



trying all ways and means of 
future correspondence with the 
natives of the said cape and 
neighboring country, and, in 
some little time, was so success- 



country ; and, in some little time, 
he was so successful as to gain 
that point, and prevailed with 
them so far as to persuade them 
to send home the king's son, leav- 



ful as to gain that point, and fur- ing one of his people as hostage 



ther prevailed with them so far as 
to persuade them to send home 
the king's son, leaving one of his 
people as hostnge for him, which 
was Colonel Morris, now living at 
New York. The Indian prince, 
going home with the said Earl, 
stayed in England three years, in 
which time the Indian king died ; 
and the said natives, having in that 
time had intercourse of friend- 
ship and commerce with those of Britain, and how necessary his 



for him, which was Colonel Mor- 
ris, now living at New York. 
The Indian prince, going home 
with the said Earl, staid in 
England three years, in which 
time the Indian king died ; and 
the natives, having in that time 
had intercourse and commerce 
with those of Providence, were 
soon made sensible of the gran- 
deur of His Majesty of Great 



Providence, were soon made sen- 
sible of the grandeur of His Ma- 
jesty of Great Britain, and how 
necessary his protection was to 
them. Upon the return of the 
said Indian prince, they per- 
suaded him to resign up his 
authority and power over them, 
and (with them) unanimously de- 



protection was to them. Upon 
the return of the said Indian 
prince, they persuaded him to 
resign up his authority and power 
over them, and, with them, unan- 
imously declare themselves the 
subjects of his said Majesty of 
Great Britain ; in which opin- 
ion,' continues Sir Hans, 'they 



clare themselves the subjects of have ever since persisted, and do 

his said Majesty of Great Britain ; own no other supreme command 

in which opinion they have ever over them.' " 

since persisted, and do own no 

other supreme command over 

them." 

I am sure you will agree with me that a worse perversion of 
history than this can scarcely be found elsewhere. The original 
authority, when produced, states expressly that the Duke of 



APPENDIX. 219 

Albemarle did nothing in the matter. .Air. Edwards suppress 
the fact that Lord Warwick's expedition was hostile to Spain; 
and the opinion attributed to Sir Hans, al the close of the extract, 
is found to be not his, but the language of the memorial. 

But I am able to go a step further in the history of this curious 
title, and show the equivalent which the Indian Esau received 
for his birthright. In a pamphlel first published in 1699 (eighl 
years before the publication of Sir Hans Sloane ). ami afterwards 
republished in the sixth volume of Churchill's " Voyages," con- 
taining an account of the Mosquito Shore from a very intelligent 
person, evidently well acquainted from observation, is the follow- 
ing passage: "He [the King] says that his father. Old .Man, 
King of the Mosquito men, was carried over to England soon 
after the conquest of Jamaica, and there received frOm his 
brother king a crown and commission, which the presenl Old 
Jeremy still keeps safely by him, which is but a cocked hat, mid •< 
ridiculous piece of writing that he should kindly use and relieve 
such straggling Englishmen as should <hoose to come that wag with 
plantains, fish, and turtle, etc.'''' The words which I have itali- 
cized in the latter part of this extract need no comment. 

As to the second fact now alleged, I have only to say that the 
"convention" is published in the Mosquito correspondence sub- 
mitted to Parliament in 1848, and, so far from proving any sov- 
ereignty in the Indians, shows the contrary. It is neither treaty 
nor convention; it is a contract between King Jeremy, on the 
one side, signed with " his mark," and Governor Lawes on the 
other, sealed with the private seals of both parties, by which the 
King contracts to furnish fifty men to hunt negroes, and the < rov- 
ernor to pay for them and give them "rum" enough for their 
voyage home, — very similar to the contract made subsequently 

with the Spanish hunters of Cuba for the employment of bl I- 

hounds for the same purpose. This is not the mode in which 
high contracting parties usually deal with each other. Any 
argument deduced from it is founded in an ignorance of the dis- 
tinction between a sovereignty in the soil and a dominion over 
the persons of the savages composing the tribe. 

As to the third fact, without stopping to dwell on its ex parte 
character, I have reason to think that the move was made in 
Jamaica, at the instance, among others, of this Mr. Edwards, 
who drew up, to further it, the memorial above alluded to. To 



220 APPENDIX. 

show how little the Government at home entered into it, in 1776, 
a vessel called the Morning Star with certain Indians on board, 
who had been to England to aid in putting down the practice 
of selling the Indians into slavery, was seized by two Spanish 
guarda costa on its return to Mosquito. The owners brought 
the subject before Parliament, presenting, with their petition, 
Mr. Edwards's memorial. After a long debate, in which it was 
asserted that the seizure was justifiable, as the treaty had been 
violated, Parliament refused to entertain the subject. 

I have now examined the only evidence adduced in support of 
the English claim to a protectorate, and, unless I deceive myself, 
it dwindles into insignificance. I now resume the historical 
thread. 

The English settlers were lax in conforming to the provisions 
of the Treaty of 1783, the territory allotted to them being found 
to be too small ; and the eighteen months passed away without 
their removal. Spain began to complain of this infraction, and 
the result was the Treaty of 1786, which, besides enlarging the 
territory to be occupied by the English, and making various reg- 
ulations about it, contains the following provisions : — 

"I. His Britannic Majesty's subjects, and the other colonists who 
have hitherto enjoyed the protection of England, shall evacuate the 
country of the Mosquitos, etc. 

"XI. ... In this view, His Britannic Majesty engages to give 
the most positive orders for the evacuation of the countries above 
mentioned by all his subjects, of whatever denomination ; but if, con- 
trary to such declaration, there should still remain any persons so 
daring as to presume, by retiring into the interior country, to en- 
deavor to obstruct the entire evacuation already agreed upon, His 
Britannic Majesty, so far from affording them the least succor, or 
even protection, will disavow them in the most solemn manner, as he 
will equally do those who may hereafter attempt to settle upon the 
territory belonging to the Sjoanish dominion. 

" XIV. His Catholic Majesty, prompted solely by motives of hu- 
manity, promises to the King of England that he will not exercise 
any act of severity against the Mosquitos, inhabiting in part the 
countries which are to be evacuated by virtue of the present con- 
vention, on account of the connections which may have subsisted 
between the said Indians and the English." 

This was looked upon as an abandonment by England. It was 
so avowed in Parliament in a debate on a motion to impeach the 



APPENDIX. 22] 

Ministry. Bryan Edwards admits it in tlio foot-note cited above. 
The Mosquito settlers themselves considered it so, and pul in 
a claim to Parliament for damages, which was allowed. Extracts 
from their statement of the grounds of their claim have found 
their way into the appendix to the Mosquito correspondence of 
1848, under the title of "Extracts from McGregor's Commercial 
Tariffs, Part 17." Still later, in the "Quarterly Review" for 
October, 1822, Article VIIL,ina review of a work on the Mosquito 
Shore by one Captain Strangeways, is the following strong lan- 
guage. After saying that "the whole of the Mosquito Shore and 
Honduras and the Mown' of Poyais have for many centuries be- 
longed to Spain, and been considered as constituent portions of 
the kingdom of Mexico, not one foot of which was ever held by 
the English, except occasionally during a war by the Buccaneers, 
or more recently by the logwood cutters," and reviewing the 
treaties of 1783 and 1786, the writer says: "Nothing can more 
clearly establish the sole right of Spain to these territories than 
the treaty and convention above mentioned. We never had any 
business there. The simple fact is that the Mosquito Indians 
have always borne an inveterate dislike to the Spaniards. The 
Duke of Albemarle, when Governor of Jamaica, fostered that dis- 
like, and invested one of the Indians with a commission as chief 
of the Mosquitos, under the protection of England, — a foolish 
ceremony, which was exercised long after by his successors, just 
as we now make King Toms and King Jacks among the negroes 
of Western Africa; but, if treaties are to be considered as at all 
binding, it is quite clear that we have not the right, nor even the 
permission, of residence on the Mosquito Shore, and that we cut 
logwood and mahogany on the shores of Honduras Bay only by 
sufferance." It is worthy of remark, that, in reply to the review 
published in 1823, is the admission that " this territory belongs 
to Spain." 

I cannot better close the discussion, under the second gem nil 
head, than in the emphatic language of this writer. I turn, there- 
fore, to the position that the Central American States arc m>i the 
heirs to Spain, on which I propose to add only a few suggestions 
to the conclusive argument contained in your No. 4, of October 
20, 1849. 

When the question is asked whether a person can inherit a 
certain estate, two inquiries must be satisfied before an answer 



222 APPENDIX. 

can be given : first, whether the estate is transmissible by inheri- 
tance ; and, second, whether the party claiming has the qualities 
of heir. A like analysis is requisite here. After what has been 
said, I shall confidently assume, as to the estate, that the right 
of Spain was not dependent on treaties ; that it went behind them 
and rested on discovery; that it was incident to the soil, and was 
only defined by the several treaties. This view would entirely 
preclude the necessity of considering whether or no the new State 
could avail itself of the treaty stipulations in favor of the old. 

But I do not wish to be understood as desiring to waive any 
rights in Nicaragua or Honduras on that score. I think that 
would be very unwise. If Great Britain has, as you intimate, in 
recognizing the independence of Central America (though I am 
unable to find that she ever did formally recognize it), expressly 
reiterated her own rights, acquired by treaty, it is a fair ground 
for argument that the counter-rights are also established. I 
leave this, however, for the present, to confine myself to the sin- 
gle line of argument I have marked out, and shall then return 
for a moment to the more narrow question of what has become 
of the rights, if any, growing out of the treaties between Eng- 
land and Spain. 

It is said that the Central American States, not having been 
formally and diplomatically recognized by Spain, cannot be the 
heirs to her rights. * 

I beg you to observe the use of the word " diplomatically " in 
this statement. It is indeed true that these States have not been 
"diplomatically" recognized as independent nations by Spain. 
For some time past, there has been no diplomatic intercourse be- 
tween England and that power ; and yet neither doubts the ex- 
istence of the other. From the hour the independence of the 
vice-royalty of Guatemala was proclaimed to this, there has not 
been a Spanish soldier, a Spanish civilian, or a sign of Spanish 
authority, on the isthmus. The revolution was bloodless, instan- 
taneous, and complete. The new federation was welcomed into 
the family of nations by the United States. Within four years 
Mr. Canning wrote to the Spanish minister in London, and to the 
British minister at Madrid, and reiterated his views in a confer- 
ence with Prince Polignac, that separation and the maintenance 
of a de facto government were sufficient grounds for recognition 
of independence ; that it would be idle to call that Spain's pos- 



APPENDIX. 223 

session where Spain had no possession; and thai Greal Britain 
had the right to form snch relations as she pleased with the 
Spanish-American States. In 1825 the union thej had formed 
was severed, but the several Stales continued to maintain diplo- 
matic agents at the European courts. And in 1836 the Cortes of 
Spain authorized the government to conclude a treaty with the 
new American States, because " they considered the political sit- 
uation of those States as an accomplished fact," and Don Angel 
de Castriciones was sent by Guatemala as an envoy to Madrid; 
hut the government refused to receive him, only because he was 
empowered by an individual State, instead of the federation, and 
at the same time expressed their willingness to treat with ( 'entral 
America. Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras are now repre- 
sented at this court; while the recent acts of Mr. Chatfield have 
let the world know that the missions are returned. It is idle to 
play on the Avord " diplomatically," when such great interests are 
at stake. The English doctrine, carried to its legitimate result, is 
this : that, admitting the right to revolt for just causes ( which all 
must), the act of revolution, while the independent revolters con- 
tinue unrecognized by the old ruling power, destroys all old 
landmarks, and throws society into chaos: and that, pending a 
recognition, any given number of men may associate together, 
form a de facto government, and hold the land they stand upon, 
and no more. Such a view is neither comprehensive, just, nor 
in accordance with precedents. The people who revolted were 
the people forming the political fabric of the vice-royalty of 
Guatemala; the nation whose independence was recognized was 
the republic of Central America, proclaiming in its constitution 
its geographical identity with the ancient vice-royalty ; the States 
now represented here were the members of that federation. Thai 
was no chaotic nation, these no chaotic States, but a nation 
and States having a political existence, geographical limits. 
and a known population. The vice-royalty of Guatemala did 
not throw off government, but changed governors. Its people 
assumed the right of governing inherently, instead of deriva- 
tively; of governing themselves, instead of being governed, — 
retaining their political geography entire. 

This is no new doctrine. In 1581, the Low Countries, unable 
to endure longer the tyranny of Philip 11., threw off the Spanish 
yoke, and, after a long and bloody war, obtained a truce for 



224 APPENDIX. 

many years ; but their independence was not " diplomatically " 
recognized by Spain till the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. Yet 
though Europe during this time was often convulsed with wars of 
aggrandizement, no statesman ever thought of claiming Hol- 
land as a waif. 

In 1640, Portugal rejected the dominion of Spain, but its inde- 
pendence remained unacknowledged until 1688 ; yet no such re- 
sults were claimed to flow from Spanish tardiness as we now see 
asserted. 

When Texas separated itself from Mexico, a tribe of fierce 
Indians wandered over its northern frontier, who then and since 
have manifested hostility towards its settlers ; but no one ever 
fancied that Texas was, therefore, circumscribed of the part they 
ranged over. 

A yet stronger case may be found in our own history. Before 
the war which preceded the Treaty of Paris, Great Britain had 
claimed to extend her Atlantic colonies to the Mississippi, which 
France denied. The treaty yielded the right to England, and 
then the British Government manifested a desire to limit its 
" ancient establishments " to the mountains. When the negoti- 
ations were opened for terminating the war of the Revolution, 
Congress instructed Dr. Franklin and his associates to insist 
upon the Mississippi as our western boundary, — which they did 
successfully, though opposed by both the French and Spanish 
courts. It is worthy of remark, that each party insisted upon 
the principle that the bounda?-ies of the neiv States were to be de- 
termined by the colonial limits. During the negotiations, it was 
asserted, and maintained by the successful result, that the Indi- 
ans between the river and the mountains were not independent 
nations, but existed under the protecting sovereignty of the 
United States. 

I think nothing can be clearer than that these examples estab- 
lish two general principles, which, combined, determine this whole 
question : first, that the successful revolt of a colony does not 
change it political geography ; and, secondly, that the Indian 
gains no right of domain by such revolt. 

We hear of the rights and of the obligations of Spain in Cen- 
tral America, as if those rights were acquired in the same manner 
as those obligations were imposed. Those who talk so forget or 
overlook that it is England, not Spain, whose rights on that coast 



APPENDIX. 225 

are grounded on treaty stipulations. The Spanish claim rested 
on the romantic exploits of early adventurers and settlers, who 
established and maintained it under well-defined principles of 
public law. The King' of Spain had no lights there as King of 
Spain. His title grew out of his sovereignty over Guatemala ; 
and when that sovereignty ceased, the rights incident to it passed 
into the new dominant power as absolutely as did the dominion 
of Holland pass into the States-General, or the sovereignty of 
Portugal into the house of Braganza. It was the discoverer who 
won, and the settler who retained, the title; and when they 
severed this title from the Spanish crown, and became sovereigns 
in the place of subjects, of right, necessity, and by precedent, 
they became possessed of that which had vested in the crown 
only through them. I had marked for quotation several extracts 
from Mr. Livingston's instructions to Dr. Franklin with refer- 
ence to the negotiation of the treaty of peace with Great Britain, 
which fully establish this doctrine; but the unexpected length of 
this communication precludes me from doing more than allude 
to them. 

To ascertain the combined rights of these States (for I have 
purposely avoided their dissensions), we have only to ask what 
were the limits of Spanish rights under the empire. Having 
ascertained that, we know the rights of those who have inherited 
its soil and who now represent it in Central America. 

If I have demonstrated that the sovereignty in Mosquito was 
clearly and unequivocally in Spain, independently of treaties; 
that it was, therefore, unaffected by treaties (except so far as ac- 
knowledged by them, or so far as the promise not to oppress the 
Indians) ; that it grew out of the relation between the European 
and the Indian, and followed the jurisdiction of the former : that 
it vested in the sovereign only through his connection witli the 
colonist; and, therefore, when the European in the New World 
threw off his allegiance in the Old, it passed into him as perfect 
as it had existed before in his ancient monarch, vesting in the. 
respective States as they had before been bounded under the 
crown, — if I have demonstrated this, I have no need to go fur- 
ther and touch upon any rights existing by virtue of the treaties 
of 1783 and 1786. And, indeed, I have used language t<> very lit- 
tle purpose if I have failed to convey my belief that no new rights 
were created by those instruments. They only exhibit a solemn 

15 



226 



APPEXDIX. 



abandonment by England of a fictitious claim. But I should fail 
in completeness, should I neglect to notice the British construc- 
tion of them. 

I dismiss entirely Lord Palmerston's criticism upon language. 
Had he studied definitions yet more severely than he seems to 
have, he would have learned that a " frontier," in the limited 
sense he seeks to give it, is a mathematical line, astride which he 
would find it difficult to maintain a tribe of savages ; and that 
when the term is extended to embrace the country in the vicinity 
of the line, it is equally just to go on either side. I pass by, too, 
his extraordinary argument that Mosquito did not belong to Spain 
because Spain promised to treat the Indians well, simply remark- 
ing that this promise is expressly stated to be " prompted solely 
by motives of humanity," which is an implied negatis-e of the 
disclaimer of sovereignty. 

The present English construction of those treaties and of the 
public law as to them is this, — that before them the sovereignty 
of Mosquito was disputed with Spain in favor of the Indians ; 
that by them it was ceded to Spain ; that Central America having 
revolted, but its independence not yet having been recognized by 
Spain, the ceded rights are lost to the latter power, without com- 
ing to the former ; and that, therefore, England may revive the 
old Indian claim without giving just ground of offence to the 
people of Central America. 

Now, the most obvious, pertinent, and conclusive reply to all 
this would be the repetition of the argument of fact, which de- 
stroys its basis. But it seems to me, in addition, that it is as 
untenable in theory as in fact. Admitting (for the sake of argu- 
ment) that England did cede these rights to Spain, it is clear 
that she ceded them to be enjoyed by the colonists. The govern- 
ment, in that case, became, as it were, the trustee : the colony 
was the real beneficiary. Is it right to say that the grantor may 
rescind the gift while the beneficiary is in actual enjoyment of 
it, because the trustee neglects his trust ? The general train of 
argument hitherto is also equally applicable to this case, and may 
be referred to without repeating it in detail. And after the 
course of Mr. Canning towards the republic of, Central America, 
with a constitution embracing this very shore within its limits, 
it is a badge (to say the least) of injustice on the part of Eng- 
land now to claim that she had the right, while a new power for 



APPENDIX. 227 

which she professed friendship was struggling with an ancienl 
ally, to step in and help herself, or a band of savages Cor her, to 
the territory in dispute. 

In any aspect in which we view the question, we are forced to 

the same conclusion: that it is the European settler through 
whom and for whom such right is retained in the crown, and in 
whom it vests on the establishment of the independence of the 
colony. The relation of the Indian towards the white man is u il 
graduated by the rise and fall of European dominion. Passing 
with the soil from monarch to monarch, from kingdom to colony. 
through all the gradations of change, the law of the stronger has 
decreed that he shall gain dominion by none. Nor do we do 
violence to any of the principles by which the republics of the 
isthmus have established their independence. So far from " prac- 
tising oppression," or "imposing a yoke on the people of Mos- 
quito;" so far from "imposing their [Spanish] rule on a people 
who had always been free," by an assertion of the principle- 1 
have endeavored to advocate in this note, — the people of Central 
America, in my judgment, could do those miserable savages no 
greater good than by exercising an active vigilance over them, 
guarding them against the rapacity of the English traders, setting 
them an example of the blessings of peace, temperance, and 
morality, and so leading them to become in fact that free people 
they are already in the fancies of many. 

I have said nothing about the boundary disputes of Nicaragua 
and her neighbors. I have, however, made this also a subjed 
of inquiry, and, without going into detail, send you herewith a 
rough ma}), on which I have located the boundaries about where 
I conceive the weight of authority fixes them. 

I have now finished what I have to say on this subject. I hav ■ 
endeavored to consider it as concisely as possible, but have been 
forced by its very magnitude into an unexpected length. 1 have 
necessarily written hastily, and consequently imperfectly, as it 
was only on the arrival of the steamer, on the 16th instant, that 
I determined to reduce these materials to form, and send 
them to you,; and 1 was anxious they should go at once, that 
you might receive them in the earliest possible stage of the 
negotiation. 

I have endeavored to examine this question historically and 
theoretically. I have tried to measure it by the standards of lad. 



228 APPENDIX. 

and of law. And in whatever aspect I view it, I am more and 
more convinced of the justice of my conclusions. 

I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, 
Your obedient servant, 

Abbott Lawrence. 1 

The Hon. John M. Clayton, 

Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. 



V. 

MR. LAWRENCE TO MR. CLAYTON. 

Legation of the United States, 
London, 7th June, 1850. 

Sir, — I had not the honor of receiving any communication 
from you by the last mail. 

Since my despatch of last week, I have had an interview with 
Lord Palmerston upon the subject of establishing some form of 
government over the Mosquito Territory. He informed me that 
Sir Henry Bulwer had instructions to propose (as I have already 
acquainted you) a plan, giving to the Indians a specific territory 
over which they may exercise sovereignty, placing San Juan in 
the hands of Costa Rica, etc. You have doubtless learned all 
this from Sir Henry Bulwer. 

The boundaries between Costa Rica and Nicaragua ought to 
be settled at once ; and I can now see no way in which this can 
be done except through the good offices, mediation, or arbitration 
of Great Britain and the United States. Lord Palmerston ap- 
pears to be much pleased with the treaty, and says it will be sat- 
isfactory to this Government. I touched upon the distance from 
the shore where captures should be valid on the ocean. He 
asked me whether I had come to any conclusion on that point. 
I answered that I had not, but it had occurred to me (with- 
out, however, consulting any one) that about one hundred and 
fifty miles should be the distance. To this he rejoined that it 
seemed reasonable, but he would consult naval men — the Lords 
of the Admiralty — on that point. I am inclined to believe that 
every nation in Europe will join in this treaty of guarantee. To 
the United States will belong the honor of having taken the first 

1 The Vernon Papers, referred to and quoted from by Mr. Lawrence in the 
above Despatch, Mere purchased by Mr. Peter Force, and afterward by Congress. 
— II. A. H. 



APPENDIX. 229 

step in this great international work, and of having broughl to- 
gether the different nations of the earth for its accomplishment. 
Great Britain now desires to finish everything relatingto Central 
America, so far as the United States are concerned. All its agents 
will be withdrawn from the Mosquitos. Yet I cannol hut fear 
that British subjects will undertake to protect the Mosquito 
King-, if the sovereignty over any portion of Central America 
is left vested in him, and that hereafter Ave may have trouble 
through American traders, who will visir, Bluefields and other 
parts of the Territory. You have better means of informa- 
tion than I on this point. If you have not already provided 
against this, I hope that, by a supplemental treaty, von will de- 
fine exactly the respective rights of the several parties claiming 
upon the Isthmus, so that the possibility of future difficulty in.i\ 
be avoided. 

I have the honor, etc., 

Abbott Lawrence. 

The Hon. John M. Clayton, 

Secretaiy of State, Washington, D. C. 



VI. 
INTERNATIONAL POSTAGE. 



MR. LAWRENCE TO MR. WEBSTER. 

Legation of the United States, 
London, 24th October, 1851. 

S IR? — On the 8th of August last, in my despatch No. 126, I 
had the honor to transmit a copy of a note to Lord Palmerston, 
on the subject of the execution of the twelfth article of the Letter 
Post Convention, between the United States and Great Britain, 
of the 15th of December, 1848. In that note, in addition to the 
reasons set forth in my note of the 18th October, 1850, to Lord 
Palmerston, and in my letters and verbal communications to 
Lord Clanricarde, I spoke, under instructions from the Post- 
master-General, of the altered state of our postal arrangements 
since July 1st, 1851, in favor of the United Kingdom, and of the 
late reduction in the German rates, of the benefit of which the 
United States is deprived in consequence of the high rate for 
transit through England ; and I concluded by renewing the prop- 
osition made in my note of the 18th October. I have now the 
honor to enclose a copy of Lord Palmerston's reply, declining the 
proposition. 

I cannot but think that on an examination of the provisions of 
the postal convention of December, 1848, and of the correspond- 
ence on this subject, transmitted to the Department both by my 
predecessor and myself, the Government will agree with me that 
the proposition now declined is just, is what we ought to demand 
if we intend to preserve anything like reciprocity in our postal 
arrangements with the United Kingdom, and ought to have been 
accepted by this Government. I therefore most reluctantly, and 
with entire deference to the better judgment of the President, 
request to be instructed at once to give the requisite notice to 
annul the Convention of December, 1848. Our continental cor- 



APPENDIX. 231 

respondcncc, already very great, is daily increasing by the con- 
tinued emigration from Germany and other continental States. 
The correspondence between the United States and United Kin g. 
dom, particularly with Ireland, has become of vasl importance to 
the citizens of the United States, and is likely to go on increasing 
for many years to come. In view of these facts, 1 respectfully 
suggest that it would be expedient and just to effect a large re- 
duction in the ocean postage between the two countries. 
I have the honor to be, sir, 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

Abbott Lawrence. 

The Honorable Daniel Webster, 

Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. 



VII. 



MR. LAWRENCE TO MR. WEBSTER. 

Legation of the United States, 

London, May 7, 1852. 

Sir, — I have had the honor to address you on several occa- 
sions on the subject of our postal arrangements, and to transmit 
my correspondence with this Government relative to the rate 
charged for the transit of postal matter in closed bags through 
England to France. In my despatch, No. 134, of the 24th 
October last, and in some others of a subsequent date and in 
private letters to the Postmaster-General, I expressed the opinion 
that the postal rates between the United States and the United 
Kingdom were too high and should be reduced. About four 
tenths of the postage between the two countries is paid in Ireland, 
and the ratio is steadily increasing in consequence of the large 
Irish population in the United States and the emigration still 
ffoing forward. The revenue derived from this branch of the 
postal service is no longer principally of a commercial character, 
but is obtained to a large extent from the correspondence of the 
most indigent classes of society. The tax falls mainly upon the 
adopted citizens of the United States, or upon those who have 
sought our shores with the expectation of becoming citizens. 
The present ocean rate for letters is heavy and very dispropor- 



232 APPENDIX. 

tionate to the low inland rates adopted both in the United States 
and the United Kingdom. It is a great impediment in the way 
of the free correspondence so important to the moral and material 
interests of the United States. 

I am unable to understand why a half -ounce letter should be 
transported three thousand miles in the United States (often in 
coaches, wagons, or on the backs of horses) at a charge of three 
cents, or to any part of the United Kingdom at a charge of two 
cents, while the rate for transporting the same letter by ship 
(much the cheapest mode of conveyance known) the same dis- 
tance across the ocean is sixteen cents. I have thought, in view 
of the great advantages enjoyed under our system of cheap post- 
age in the United States, and the long and happy experience in 
this country of the workings of a similar system, that the pres- 
ent time might not be deemed unfavorable for proposing to ex- 
tend it to the ocean. I had supposed that probably this would 
not be considered a financial question by the Government of the 
United States, but one of a deeper interest to the people. Con- 
sidering the vast extent of our country, the character of its in- 
habitants, its Constitution, its laws, its free institutions, and the 
great and growing numbers of British-born persons among us, 
cheap postage between the two countries must produce the most 
beneficial results. We have much to gain and nothing to lose by 
adopting it. Our security for the preservation of our popular 
institutions rests upon the enlightenment of the people and the 
extension of knowledge. Perhaps nothing does more to diffuse 
that knowledge than the constant correspondence which takes 
place among the people of the United States ; and were it extended 
to these islands a corresponding advantage would be gained, as 
well as a broader foundation laid for the maintenance of amicable 
and happy relations between the two Governments. 

After our experience in the great increase of correspondence 
consequent upon the reduction of the inland rates of postage, 
there cannot, I think, be much doubt that a corresponding in- 
crease would take place, were a reduction made in the sea-rates 
between this country and the United States. It would seem that 
the Treasury of the United States is in a condition to try this 
experiment, if it be an experiment. During the first two or three 
years perhaps some aid from the Treasury will be required ; but 
it seems to me that the amount, which may be temporarily neces- 



APPENDIX. 233 

sary, will be of small consequence compared with the immense 
benefits to result from it. 

If anything is to be done immediately in this matter, the ex- 
ample musi be set in the United States. 1 think thai the great 
body of the people of this country arc in favor of the change; 
but I have some doubt whether the Government will not view the 
question entirely in a financial light, and be unwilling to make 
any sacrifice. They maintain a steam navy in pari by their bigh 
ocean postal rates to almost every pari of the globe. 

During the great Exhibition of 1851, an association was formed 
for the purpose of promoting a cheap and uniform system of in- 
ternational postage for letters and printed papers, and a large 
•committee was appointed, which has had the subject under consid- 
eration. A few days since, several of these gentlemen called upon 
me as a deputation from the general committee, for the purpose 
of discussing the question. Lord Ashburton is the chairman of 
the general committee, and was to have been the chairman of the 
deputation, but was prevented from attending by illness. The 
deputation consisted of Sir John Boileau, Sir John Burgoyne, 
William Brown, Esq., M. P., H. Cole, Esq., and several other 
gentlemen of high character and standing. They stated that 
the system of cheap ocean-postage must begin in the United 
States ; that when commenced it would, in their judgment, be 
adopted here from necessity, as, in case of refusal on the part of 
this Government, all the correspondence between the two coun- 
tries would be transmitted by American vessels, — since no Gov- 
ernment in the present state of opinion would probably wish to 
renew the severe measures pursued towards the Washington, and 
that their efforts would now be given to effecting a cheap inter- 
national postage between the United Kingdom and the United 
States. 

I will not dwell further upon this subject, but close with ex- 
pressing the hope that at the present session of Congress the 
question may be brought before it, and that in its wisdom it may 
adopt such a measure as will conduce to the best interests of our 
country. 

I have the honor to be, sir, 

Very respectfully your obedient servant, 

Abbott Lawuknce. 

To the Hon. Daniel Webbter, 

Secretary of State, Washington, I). C. 



VIII. 
THE CONDITION OF IRELAND. 



MR. LAWRENCE TO MR. WEBSTER, 

Legation of the United States, 
2nd December, 1851. 

Sir, — I avail myself of the earliest convenient opportunity 
since my return from Ireland, to lay before you the result of my 
observations while there. 

I left London on the 11th of September, and proceeded by 
Holyhead to Dublin, where I remained two days. From thence I 
went by railway to Galway, a very old and much depressed town. 
I visited the harbor at that place. It is easy of access, and can 
at a small expense be made perfectly safe for ships of any size at 
anchor. From Galway I returned to Athlone, situated in the 
centre of the island, and took a steamer thence down the Shan- 
non to Killaloe, it being the first time that the flag of the United 
States had been unfurled on that noble river. From Killaloe I 
went by coach to Limerick, a very pleasant town, which has suf- 
fered severely from famine and other causes within a few years 
past. I was invited by the city authorities to examine the har- 
bor, and to descend the river to its mouth. This I did, stopping 
at the harbor of Foynes, which is protected on every side by nat- 
ural barriers, and is admirably adapted for the security of ships. 
After returning to Limerick I proceeded to Killarney, a distance 
of about seventy miles, and then passed over the mountains 
and lakes, so justly celebrated for their beauty. The mountain 
road to G-lengariff is an extraordinary work of engineering. 
From GlengarifT I crossed Bantry Bay in an open boat to Bantry. 
This bay is more striking than any I have seen in Ireland, and of- 
fers a good harbor with secure anchorage for almost any number 



APPENDIX. 235 

of ships. From Bantry 1 went on to Cork, — the second town, 
I think, in population, in Ireland. 1 passed down the river to the 
Cove of Cork, to which the name of Queenstown has been lately 
given. This cove is easy of access, and is perhaps, at present, 
the best harbor in the United Kingdom. The four harbors above 
mentioned are all good, — better, either of them, than any in 
England. I was unable to visit Valencia, which is said to equal, 
if not surpass, any place in Ireland in its advantages tor the ac- 
commodation of ships, and which is, in addition, nearer to the 
United States than either I have mentioned. A large number 
of admiralty charts and reports, and individual accounts and de- 
scriptions of these various harbors, were placed in my hands, with 
a view to their being transmitted to the United Stales. 1 have 
sent them all to the President of the Chamber of Commerce 
of the city of New York, for the use of all persons desiring to 
avail themselves of the information they contain. 

The social and political condition of Ireland has become an 
exceedingly interesting question, especially to the Government 
and people of the United States. 

The island contains about 33,000 square miles, and possesses 
natural resources scarcely equalled by the same amount of terri- 
tory in any other part of the globe with which I am acquainted. 
The soil in general is excellent. A considerable portion of it is 
remarkably rich and well watered. The river Shannon runs 
through nearly the centre of the island, and is navigable by 
steam for about two hundred miles. Excellent water-power ex- 
ists in many localities, capable of being brought into use at a 
small expense. There is an abundance of the most substantial 
building materials, such as stone, lime, clay for bricks, etc., and 
there are also minerals of various and useful kinds, and rich bog 
fuel of incalculable value. The climate is temperate, and admir- 
ably suited for the rearing of horses, horned cattle, sheep, and 
hogs. It has also been found, until lately, equally favorable t<> 
the existence of man. In fact, I do not know any other country 
of so small an area that possesses so remarkable a physical For- 
mation and such wonderful facilities for the production of food 
and other articles to supply the wants of man. 

The island is almost in the form of an amphitheatre, nearly 
surrounded by mountains and hills, from which issue the great 
number of streams that meet the traveller's eye. With all this 



236 APPENDIX. 

natural productive power, we behold the population rapidly di- 
minishing. The natural and ordinary increase within the last 
ten years should have been, at the least calculation, 1,000,000 
persons. Instead of this, there has been an actual decrease of 
1,600,000, — exhibiting the appalling fact of a loss of population 
of 2,600,000 ; greater than the whole population of Pennsylvania ; 
equal to that of New York, and nearly equal to that of the whole 
of New England. 

The prominent causes that have produced these astounding 
results are the following : — . 

I place first in importance the fact that Ireland is a conquered 
country, governed by the conquerors. Hence the legislation of 
the British Parliament has usually had reference to the especial 
interests of Great Britain, and not to those of Ireland as an in- 
tegral part of the United Kingdom. 

The difficulties and quarrels growing out of the religious differ- 
ences in the country have also had important influences on its 
condition. The Church of England is established and supported 
by law, — while three fourths of the people profess the Catholic 
faith ; and tithes for the support of the Established Church are 
levied upon the property of all alike. 

The narrow system of the ecclesiastical government of the 
Romish Church in Ireland, and the want of charity and good 
feeling in each great denomination towards the others have, until 
lately, prevented any public provision for the education of the 
people ; and hence an ignorance among them that would hardly 
have been looked for in the British dominions in the 19th century. 
Absenteeism, or the residence abroad of a large number of the 
great landholders, has proved a serious and, in some cases, an 
intolerable evil. Many landholders are now suffering a severe 
retribution in the reckless and mischievous conduct it has occa- 
sioned. Considerable tracts of land have, in consequence, been 
let to lessees, by them underlet in moderate quantities, again 
underlet, and so perhaps a third, fourth, or fifth time ; the quan- 
tity each time reduced, until many estates are subdivided in lots 
of from an eighth or a quarter of an acre to a few acres. The 
persons who become the landlords and masters in these cases are 
called middlemen. By their underlettings, they have so subdi- 
vided the land that the spade has taken the place of the plough, 
and field-culture has been abandoned. These small tracts are 






APPENDIX. 237 

planted with the potato, upon which the tenants become depend- 
ent for subsistence, while the pig, almost always found with 
this large class of Irishmen, is reared for the payment of rent. 
When the potato crop failed, the most numerous class of the 
Irish peasantry were left destitute of food, as bread and meal had 
never constituted any portion of their subsistence. There were 
millions of people there who had lived entirely on the potato. 

The manufactures of Ireland which had existed before the 
Union were, by subsequent legislation, discouraged, and finally 
destroyed, with the exception of linen, the seat of which is in the 
North. It soon became an agricultural country, with a market 
in England. As late as 1834 it exported here to the amount of 
£17,894,813, while the imports were only £15,337,097. In 
1845 the value of the grain and cattle alone exported to England 
amounted to £10,000,000. Now the imports of Ireland exceed 
her exports, and the amount of food that has been introduced 
there is quite extraordinary. The crops this year have been 
abandoned, yet they have imported a large quantity of flour and 
Indian meal. Oats are and will continue to be an article of 
export to England, while the cultivation of wheat has diminished, 
and will probably be abandoned. 

As long as the British market was secured, the emigration was 
moderate as compared with the present time. The corn and pro- 
vision laws were repealed in 1846. Since that time Ireland has 
been on the decline. The repeal of those laws and the conse- 
quent opening of the markets of the United Kingdom to the 
world appear to have given the finishing blow to its prosperity. 
That sudden and permanent measure was beginning to cause 
distress in 1847, which was greatly aggravated by the failure of 
the potato crop that year. Tens of thousands of poor creatures 
died for want of the subsistence they were unable to obtain. 

From these various causes the poor-rates have for many wars 
past become very onerous in many districts, and positively op- 
pressive in most of the parishes. There seems to be a slender 
prospect at present of any permanent relief from this burden. 
The most striking modern objects which meet the eye of a 
stranger in Ireland arc the almshouses. They arc on a very 
large scale, and occupy prominent positions in every Onion 
(which is a collection of a number of parishes), and in every 
locality where man is to be found. 



238 APPENDIX. 

On the 31st of March, 1841, there were in Ireland, according 
to the census at that date, 8,100,000 inhabitants. On the 31st 
March, 1850, there were but 6,500,000. One naturally asks 
what has become of the people ? A Roman Catholic clergyman 
told me that in the year 1845 there were in his parish twelve 
thousands persons, and now, said he, I have but six thousand. 
What has become of them ? I said. He replied that a large num- 
ber had died, and that the remainder had emigrated. He further 
said that in 1845 he had eight marriages where now he had but 
one. I believe this is only an epitome of much of the history of 
the country during the same period. 

Such are briefly some of the many causes that have produced 
the present results in Ireland. I wish to say, in addition, a few 
words on a subject most interesting to the United States, — emi- 
gration. 

I had an opportunity not only to view the country, but to see 
and converse with all classes ; and I can say with truth that all 
the humbler or working people, and many in comfortable circum- 
stances, desire to go to the United States. Large numbers of 
able-bodied men and women were leaving the land of their birth 
without a pang. Many Irish feel that they have not been dealt 
with fairly by the British, and that they still are an oppressed 
people. They entertain the idea that the United States is a land 
of promise, where they may be prosperous and happy. Their 
most sanguine expectations rarely fail to be realized there. 

The emigration from Ireland the present year has been com- 
posed of a much better class than has usually gone to America. 
From my observation I am inclined to think it will increase 
rather than diminish. Among the strongest reasons in favor of 
the continuance of the emigration is the almost incredible differ- 
ence between the wages of labor in the United States and the 
wages in Ireland. Able-bodied agricultural laborers were paid, 
during the last harvest in the south and west of the island, from 
sixpence to eightpence, and in some instances tenpence a day. 
At this season and during the winter thousands of men can be 
hired at fourpence to sixpence a day. Men selected for their 
strength and intelligence receive, in summer, for working in the 
construction of railways, tenpence and twelvepence a day. The 
same man would receive in the United States four shillings ster- 
ling a day. More work, however, is done by an Irishman in the 









APPENDIX. 239 

United States than in his native country, in consequence of his 
being better fed, better clothed, and better lodged. So Ions as 
the United States arc within ten days of Ireland, the emigration 
will continue until the wages of labor in the two countries shall 
approximate nearer to each other. 1 apprehend there will be no 
very serious reduction in the wages of labor in the United States 
for the present. Hence emigration will probably continue from 
Ireland, till a large proportion of the able-bodied men shall have 
been withdrawn. Nor will the emigration hereafter be confined 
to Ireland. The wages of farm laborers in England are from 
fourteen pence to twenty pence a day, or from seven to ten shil- 
lings a week, varying in different counties. The average rate for 
England is said to be rather under nine shillings a week. In all 
cases throughout the United Kingdom the laborer supports him- 
self at the rate of wages I have stated, which are in sterling 
currency. 

The prices of wheat are too low to remunerate the grower in 
Ireland, and less breadth of land is planted each succeeding 
year. I have little doubt that it will be abandoned as a general 
crop. The country is in a state of transition. Already land to 
the value of more than X3,000,000 has been sold under the " En- 
cumbered Estates Act," and there are yet to be sold under the 
hammer estates valued at X 15,000,000. 

I think from the present indications it is destined to become a 
grazing country. Horned cattle, sheep, and horses, with some 
oats, barley, and potatoes, are to be its staple products. If it 
were to be entirely turned into pasture, only a small number of 
people would be required to manage the stock grazing the land. 
England also is destined to grow less wheat and more sheep 
and horned cattle. Already the third quality of wheat lands 
has been laid down in grass. 

The mio-ration of nersons from their native soil in such num- 
bers is something new in modern history ; and the effect it may 
produce upon the United Kingdom, should it continue, is yet to 
be solved. Many intelligent persons, both in Ireland and England, 
rejoice at it, and express the hope that millions more may follow 
those who have gone. Others of quite as much intelligence and 
sagacity entertain fears lest the emigration should be carried too 
far. From the returns 1 have seen, it would appear thai the "mi- 
gration into the United States the present year will not be lea 



240 APPENDIX. 

than 450,000 persons. I think also, in the present disturbed con- 
dition of Europe, we may look for a large and continued emigra- 
tion from the Continent. What the effect is to be upon our 
institutions and national character is an important problem, that 
can be worked out only by time. Liberal provisions for universal 
education are the only sure safeguards against the dangers which, 
as many fear, will result from this cause. 

There is one encouraging feature in the present condition of 
Ireland, destined, perhaps, to redeem that unhappy country, — 
the national schools. These are found in every part of the land. 
Already there are enrolled 512,000 children, who receive daily 
instruction without reference to religious faith. These schools 
cannot but elevate the character of the people, and diffuse an 
intelligence amongst them at no distant day such as must work 
an entire change in their habits and manners. In many local- 
ities the schools are of a very high order, and it would be a bless- 
ing to England if the same system were introduced there. The 
children I saw in them, whether pure Celt or mixed race, struck 
me as quite equal in intellectual acuteness to any I have ever 
seen. 

The northern portions of the island possess a more intelligent 
population than the middle, southern, and western parts, and are 
of course more prosperous. I had intended to visit them, but 
my time being limited, I was forced to leave them for another 
journey. 

I have the honor to be, sir, 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

Abbott Lawrence. 

The Honorable Daniel Webster, 

Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. 



IX. 
THE CLOSING OF THE MISSION. 



MR. LAWRENCE TO MR. WEBSTER. 

Legation of tiik United States, 
London, 30th September, 1852. 

Sir, — Mr. Ingersoll having arrived in London, I shall to-day 
transmit my final accounts to the Department, and close my 
active connection with this Mission. The Queen being in Scot- 
land, 1 have not yet presented my letter of recall, but wait only 
to know her pleasure in regard to it. 

When you entered upon the duties of your office 1 addressed you 
at length, in my Despatch No. 71, respecting the business pend- 
ing in this Legation. The termination of my official connection 
with the Government seems to me a fit time for a similar review, 
and it may perhaps aid the Department in its instructions to my 
successor. 

The first and most important matters referred to in that 
Despatch are the negotiations relative to Central America, re- 
specting which there has been little done in this Legation since 
its date. When I came to London, I was charged by the Presi- 
dent to ascertain the views of the British Government on that 
question. They were unknown at Washington, except so far as 
reported by Mr. Rives, who had been instructed, on his way to 
Paris, to see Lord Palmerston. But they were supposed to lie 
contrary to those entertained by the President and his advisers. 
I found Lord Palmerston still in error as to the policy of the 
United States, notwithstanding the assurances of Mr. Rives. 
At length, after frequent and frank interviews with him, and 
after the interchange of several notes, I addressed an official note 
to him on the 14th of December, 1849, suggesting a plan of settle 

10 



242 APPENDIX. 

ment of the whole question, which received the full approval 
of the President, and, though never officially replied to, it was 
made the basis of the subsequent adjustment. The negotiations 
were soon after transferred to Washington, where the presence 
of Mr. Molina and of Mr. Marcoleta made it more easy to conduct 
them. Since then, with the exception of the proposition of 
Messrs. Fox and Henderson for a joint survey of the Escoces 
route, the correspondence relative to Colonel Child's survey and 
that relative to the outrage on the Prometheus, 1 I am not aware 
that anything of importance on this subject has been sent to this 
Legation from the Department. 

Another subject then pending here is not yet brought to a 
conclusion. I refer to the negotiations for the execution of the 
12th Article of the Postal Convention of 1848. In my Despatch 
No. 83 I reviewed the history of the negotiations up to that 
time, and expressed my opinion that, in the event of the con- 
tinued rejection of our just claims by this Government, we ought 
to give the notice to annul that Convention. The rejection which 
I anticipated followed. This Government showed itself hostile 
to a settlement on just terms. I had the satisfaction of finding 
my course approved by the Postmaster General. But unfortu- 
nately the approval was not coupled with an authority to give 
the notice, and no advance has been made. In connection with 
this subject I have several times pressed upon the Government the 
propriety of taking some steps for the reduction of the rates of 
ocean postage. Although I have heard nothing in reply, I am 
led to hope, from the manifest policy of such a course, that the 
subject has occupied the attention of the proper Departments, 
and that something will eventually be done. 

In accordance with instructions from the Department, I urged 
upon this Government the abolition or reduction of the dues for 
the construction and maintenance of lighthouses. The applica- 
tion was not successful, but at the same time it was not met by 
a positive refusal. And I am not without hope, since other 
Foreign Powers, as well as British shipowners, are united with 
us, that at an early day a way will be found for effecting this 
reform. The lighthouse on the Bahamas, for which I was in- 

1 She was fired upon by H. M. Brig Express, to enforce the collection of certain 
dues levied at Greytown. The act was afterwards disavowed by the British 
admiral on the station, and apologized for by Lord Granville. — H. A. II. 



APPENDIX. 243 

structcd to ask, has not yet been granted. 1 have from time to 
time in my interviews urged it upon this Government, which 1 
think will decide to erect it. 

At your suggestion I addressed you on the coinage of tin- 
United States, which seemed to me somewhat defective. I was 
gratified to learn from other sources that my views were esteemed 
of sufficient value to be transmitted to Congress, where 1 hope 
they were not found wholly without use. 

The subject of our commerce with the coast of Africa, and the 
necessity of adopting further measures to protect and increase it, 
have also occupied me, as I have witnessed the British efforts 
in that quarter. My despatches of the 9th of January ami 
the 11th of September, 1851, relative thereto, have undoubtedly 
had such consideration given to them as it was supposed they 
deserved. But, having the opportunity, I cannot forbear from 
again expressing my belief in the soundness of the views they 
contain, and my hope that this important subject may receive 
attention from the Government. 

I have endeavored on one or two occasions to put you in pos- 
session of the view's of this Government relative to Cuban affairs. 
I should have been glad to have been kept in like manner ac- 
quainted with the negotiations at Washington on this subject. 
It is an inconvenience to a Minister to be without information on 
important political questions, about which he is presumed to be 
kept advised, and to be forced to rely for such information upon 
the Government to which he is accredited. 

I have not failed to give my attention to the various claims 
against the British Government with which I have been charged. 
Those which had been presented and argued by my predecessors, 
I could only urge in conversations and personal interviews. The 
cases of the Jones and of the Tigris and Sca-Mcw have been 
repeatedly discussed by me both with Lord Granville and Lord 
Palmerston. The claims which first came into the Legation 
during my mission (the Louisa,t\\Q John, and the Louisa Bra/an ) 
have been presented for consideration, and the first and third 
rejected, while no answer has been received to the second. But 
Lord Granville, during his brief and successful administration of 
the Foreign Office, proposed a joint commission for adjusting all 
these claims. The plan seemed to me to be feasible in principle 
but capable of improvement in details, and I accordingly trans- 



244 APPENDIX. 

mitted it to the Department on the 18th February, 1852, with 
suggestions to that effect. To this I have received no relpy. I 
again venture to suggest that these claims are, many of them, of 
long standing and growing less valuable with delay, and whether 
it would not be wise to come to some determination about Lord 
Granville's proposition at an early day. 

I beg leave again to bring before you the proposition of the 
Bavarian Government, preferred through the Baron de Cetto, 
to conclude an extradition treaty with the United States, and to 
respectfully suggest the propriety of giving an answer to it, since 
it now plainly appears that the Baron Gerolt has mistaken his 
powers in that respect. 

I am not aware that anything remains to be done through this 
Legation with reference to the action of the United States upon 
the question of the La Plata waters. Your answer of the 10th 
of July was decisive in the matter. The claim of Peru to sov- 
ereignty over the Lobos Islands was, at the request of the Charge 
d' Affaires of that country at this Court, laid before you in my 
Despatch 194, together with the Parliamentary and Documentary 
papers accompanying it. 

I have kept you constantly acquainted with the views of Her 
Majesty's Government upon the subject of the fisheries so far as 
they have been communicated to me, and have taken the liberty 
of coupling with them my own opinion, to a certain extent. It 
has given me pleasure to know that my course has met the 
approval of the President ; and I am particularly happy to hear 
that, as the result of my action, the hope is entertained that 
" tilings may be allowed to go on as they have gone on until 
the whole subject can be reviewed thoroughly and dispassion- 
ately." 1 

1 Mr. Lawrence, in common with nearly all the leading American statesmen of 
that day, appreciated the difficulties and dangers which surrounded the fishery 
question as between the United States and Great Britain, and, for this and other 
reasons, he was heartily in favor of the Reciprocity Treaty of 1851, under which, 
it was then hoped, this question had been permanently settled. In a letter to Lord 
Clarendon, dated Boston, April 5, 1855, he thus expressed his estimate of the 
value of this treaty : — 

" Having had for many years a strong desire to accomplish the important work 
which was consummated at Washington last year, and having been consulted upon 
that question before the negotiation was finished with Lord Elgin, I have taken the 
freedom to write a few lines to your Lordship, and to say that I deem the treaty 
fair and just to all the parties interested in it. The Provinces will at once feel the 



APPENDIX. 245 

Tn my Despatch No. 183 I enclosed a copy of a part of a letter 
from the Attorney General of Ireland touching the necessity of ;i 
further extradition treaty between the United Stales and the 
United Kingdom. I hope this subject will receive the attention 
of the Department. At present the most frequent cases of dis- 
honesty go unpunished, as they are not covered by the Treaty of 
1842. 

I have endeavored to keep you constantly informed of the 
political condition of this country and the state of parties. In 
reviewing my correspondence on this subject, I am gratified to 
perceive that my information has been generally correct. 

I cannot close this Despatch without renewing my testimony 
to the inadequacy of the provision made by Congress for this 
Legation. The salaries are too small and the duties more than 
can be performed by the force allowed. The facilities for trav- 
elling have become so great that many more Americans visit 
London than formerly, most of whom come to the Legation to 
see the Minister, to obtain passports, to get introductions to the 
many prominent objects of interest, and frequently simply to see 
the face of a countryman in the midst of a world of strangers. 
The Exhibition year will be hereafter no exceptional year. The 
American world have found that a journey to Europe is not a 
difficult thing, and they will continue to come in increasing num- 
bers. I have found great pleasure in the society of those whom 
I have met, and have been happy in being able to render them aid 
in their various objects and pursuits. 

I was especially charged by the President, on leaving the 
United States, to cultivate the most friendly relations with the 
Government of the United Kingdom. This has been my constant 
aim. To this end I have mingled freely with people of all ranks ; 
and I can say with truth, in closing my connection with the 
Legation, that the relations between the United States and Gnat 
Britain have never in my judgment been so cordial, or on so I inn 
a basis of good understanding, as at the present moment. I have 

beneficial result of the treaty, inasmuch as all of them are now availing themselvea 
of trade to a large extent with this country. The fact of the operation of the treaty 
over a smaller surface of territory than that of the United States is a reason why 
its effects should he felt at once in the Provinces. There was considerable opposi- 
tion to the ratification of the treaty in the Senate; yet I cannot doubt, at the end 
of one year all parties here, as well as in the Provinces, will look upon the measure 
as one of a beneficial character." — H. A. II. 



246 



APPENDIX. 



found every Administration of this Government animated with 
a desire to preserve this happy state of things, and every class 
vying with every other in manifestations of respect and good- 
will. 

I have the honor to be, Sir, 

Very respectfully your obedient servant, 
_ TT Abbott Lawrence. 

I he Hon. Daniel Webster, 

Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. 



INDEX 



INDEX. 



A. 

Abbott, Abigail, 3. 

Abbott family, 3. 

Abbott, Nehemiah, 3. 

Aberdeen, Lord, 61, 66, 67. 

Adams, Charles Francis, 82. 

Adams, John Quincy, 67, 77. 

Adams, Joseph T., 72. 

Africa, coast of, 243. 

Agassiz, Louis, 122. 

Aix la Chapclle, peace of, 213. 

Albany, railroad to, 11, 13, 14. 

Albemarle, Duke of, 216-219,-221. 

Albert, Prince Consort, 102. 

Allen, Charles, 63. 

Alvaredo, Spanish leader, 200. 

American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 
124. 

American Antiquarian Society, 124. 

American Legation in London, 85-111, 
needs of, 245. 

Ancient and Honorable Artillery Com- 
pany Dinner in 1845, 50. 

" Apocalyptic Sketches," 126. 

Appleton, Nathan, 24 ; Memoir of Mr. 
Lawrence, vii, 2, 9 ; letter to, on TariiF 
of 1842, 34 ; services in Congress, 60 ; 
Ashburton Treaty, 68 ; letters to, dur- 
ing the Taylor campaign, 82; public 
dinner to Mr. Lawrence, 108, 109. 

Appleton, William, 60, 108. 

Archer, William S., 36. 

Arlington, Lord, 204. 

Armstrong, Samuel Turell, 32, 57- 
_^'Army Despatch," on return of Mr. 
Lawrence, 109, 110. 



Ashburton, Lord, 63-66, 68, 84, 233. 
Ashburton Treaty, 60-68, 75, 84. 
Aspinwall, Thomas, 98. 
Atlantic Mills, 20. 



B. 



Bache, A. Dallas, 134. 

Bahamas, lighthouse on the, 242. 

Baiubridge, William, 51. 

Baker, Daniel S., letter to, 80. 

Baldwin, James F., 40. 

Baltimore, water supply, 48. 

" Bangor Gazette," on wreck of the 
Columbia, (ill. 

Bank-notes, Boston, credit in 1815, 6. 

Bank of the United States, 16-19. 

Baring, Alexander. See Lord Ash- 
burton. 

Baring, Thomas, 98. 

Bates, Joshua, 67, 68, 73, 98, 105. 

Bath Street, Boston, 5, 6. 

Belgium, visit to, 72. 

Bentinck, Lord George, 106. 

Bcnlinck, Lord William, 138. 

Bigelow, George Tyler, 52. 

Bigelow, John Preseott, 4, 57. 

Bigelow, Katharine (.Mrs. Lawrence). 8, 
128. 

Bigelow, Timothy, 8. 

Blagden, Rev. George W., 128. 

Blaine, James G., 88. 

Blake, George Baly, 108. 

Bluelields, 93, 195. 

Bluefields River, 199. 

Boileau, Sir John, 233. 

Bonetta, sloop, 211. 



250 



INDEX. 



Boott, "Kirk, 9. 

Boston : streets, 5, 6 ; directories, 6 ; 
commerce and valuation in 1835 and 
onward, 14 ; water supply, 38-51 ; fire 
in 1872, 140. 

" Boston Advertiser : " speech on militia, 
50 ; letter of resignation, 58, 59 ; re- 
turn of Mr. Lawrence, 109-110 ; obit- 
uary, 137, 138. 

" Boston Atlas : " speech on militia, 53 ; 
wreck of the Columbia, 72; return of 
Mr. Lawrence, 110, 111. 

"Boston Courier," German biography, 
143-145. 

Boston Public Library, 138, 142. 

Bouchet, French adventurer, 196, 197- 

Bowditch, J. Ingersoll, 140. 

Brattle Square Church, 125, 133. 

Bridgham, Henry, G. 

Briggs, George N., 24. 

Brimmer, Martin, 40, 41. 

Briton, John, 208. 

Brooks, Edward, 40-42. 

Brown, John Carter, 9S. 

Brown, William, 167, 233. 

Bryant, John, 11. 

Buccaneers, 201, 203, 205, 206, 217. 

Buckminster, Rev. Joseph Stevens, 125. 

Buffalo : railroad to, 13 ; convention, 82. 

Bugbee, James M., 40. 

Bullock, Alexander H., 76. 

Bulwer, Sir Henry (Lord Dalling), 91, 
98, 100, 103, 193, 224. 

Bunker Hill, battle of, 2. 

Burgoyne, Sir John, 233. 

Burke, Edmund, quotation from, 132. 

Butler, Caleb, 4. 

Byron, Lord, anecdote of, 143. 



C. 



Cabinet, position offered to Mr. Law- 
rence, 82, 83, 135. 

Cadogan House, London, 85, 7.05. 

Calhoun, John C, 9. 

Calhoun, William B., 32. 

Canal traffic, 12, 38, 153. 

Canning, George, 222, 226. 

Carey, Mathew, 30. 

Carlyle, Thomas, 11. 

Carolinas, the : resources, 152-155; tariff 
questions, 156-181 ; population, 178. 



Caroline, ship, 61, 66. 

Cartwright, Charles W., 44. 

Cassada, intoxicating drink, 210. 

Castellon, M., Lord Palmerston's note 
to, 215. 

Central America : political questions, 86- 
93, 185-229, 241; authorities on, 199, 
200. 

Central Street, Boston, 6. 

Cetto, Baron de, 244. 

Channing, Rev. William Ellery, 77. 

Channing, Walter, M.D., 41. 

Chapman, Jonathan, 65. 

Charles I., 217. 

Charles II., 203. 

Charles V., 200. 

Charles River, water supply, 39, 51. 

Charlestown Navy Yard, 55. 

Chatfield, Erederic, 93, 223. 

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 35. 

Chickering, Thomas E., 133. 

Chdd, Colonel, 242. 

" Churchill's Voyages," 219. 

Church of England in Ireland, 236. 

Church of Rome in Ireland, 236. 

Citizen soldiery, 51-55. 

Clanricarde, Lord, 230. 

Clarendon, Lord, 244. 

Clay, Henry, 9, 75-84 ; his Public Land 
Bill, 19, 33 ; his Compromise Meas- 
ures, 31, 32, 76. 

Clay, Sir William, 73. 

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, 87 et seq., 141, 
193. 

Clayton, John M., 83 ; letters to, 182- 
229. 

Cochituate Lake, water supply, 39-5L 

Cole, Sir Henry, 233. 

Colson's stone house, 5. 

Colt, Samuel, 101. 

Columbia, loss of the, 68-74. 

Columbus, Christopher, 199. 

" Commercial Gazette," Mr. Lawrence 
on Railroads, 12. 

Common Council, Mr. Lawrence's ser- 
vices in, 57. 

Concord : Parker family, 2 ; battle, 3. 

Congress, Mr. Lawrence's services in, 
14, 56-62. 

Constitution,, frigate, 54. 

Corbin, Francis P., 99. 

Cornhill, Boston, 5, 6. 



INDEX. 



251 



Cortez, Fernando, 199, 200. 

Costa Rica, SS, 185-229 passim. 

Cotton : use in 1815, G ; mills in the 
United States, 10 ; connection with 
tariff, 157-1S1 passim; goods from 
Hindostau, 1G9. 

Council Bluffs, railroad to, 13. 

Court Street, Boston, 5. 

Crampton, Sir John F. T., 94. 

Crane, James M., 35. 

Creole, case of the, 61, 66, 67. 

Crisis of 1S37, 23. 

Croton water, 51. 

Crowninshield, Benjamin W., 32. 

Cuba, 167, 202, 207, 219, 213. 

dimming, Rev. John, 126. 

Cunard steamships, 14. 

Currency: United States, 16-19; infla- 
tion, 22; letter on, 141; and tariff, 
156. 

Curtis, Thomas B., 14, 40, 41. 

Custom House, deceptions in, 158. 

D. 

Dakiex, Isthmus of, 189. 

Darracott, George, 41. 

D'Avilas, the two, Spanish leaders, 200. 

Davis, J. C. Bancroft, 98, 104, 111. 

Davis, John, 75. 

Davis, Thomas A., 41. 

Dearborn, H. A. S., Letter to, 81. 

Denmark, trade with, 184. 

Derbv, Lord, 106. 

"Der Weg Zum Gluck," etc., 142-113. 

Dexter, Franklin, 52. 

Dexter, Lambert, 6, 8. 

Dilly, Admiral, 20S-210. 

Disraeli, Benjamin (Lord Beaconsfield), 

106. 
Dominican missionaries, 201. 
Drainage in Boston, 45. 
Drake, Sir Francis, 201. 
Drake's "Landmarks," 5. 
1) wight, Henry W., 32. 



E. 



East Canton Street, lodging-houses, 

1 10. 
East India Company, 168. 
Economy in 1813, 6, 7. 



Education: Mr. Lawrence's interest in, 
112-121; in the South, 154, 155 ; in 
Inland, 240. 

Edwards, Bryan, 216-221. 

Edwards, Henry, 1 1. 

Elective franchise, 154, 155. 

•* Elements of International Law," 84. 

Elgin, Lord, 94, 244. 

Eliot, Samuel Atkins, 117, 122. 

EUesmere, Earl of, 138. 

Emigration from Inland, 238. 

England : visits to, 7, 8, 69-74 ; mission 
to, S3, 84; residence, 85-111. 

English Board of Trade, 212. 

English Press on Mr. LawrenCe, 109- 
111. 

Ericksou, 101. 

Erie Canal, 11. 

Escoces route, 242. 

Esses Company, 24-26. 

Essex County- "History of," 24, 25; 
politics, 78, 79. 

Eugene, Prince of Savoy, 84. 

Europa, steamer, 83. 

Eustis, Henry L., 122. 

Everett, Alexander II. , 32. 

Everett, Edward : speech on railroads, 11, 
13; governor, 14; tribute to Mr. 
Lawrence's foresight, 28; Harrisburg 
Convention, 29 ; the Compromise 
Measures, 32 ; Minister to England, 
61-63, 73 ; Memoir of Webster, 62, 
63; Creole question, 67; president 
of Harvard College, 116 ; pastor of 
Brattle Square Church, 125 ; on Mr. 
Lawrence's death, vii. 2, 132. 

Ewing, Thomas, 30. 

Executive patronage, 20, 21. 

Express, 11. M. brig, 212. 

Extradition Treaty for Ireland, 245. 



Fairi'ield, John. 63. 

Falkland, Lord. 73. 

Faneuil Hall: railroad meeting in l v 
11 ; water meetings, 10 : Whig meet- 
ings, 60. 77, SI ; merlin- after Mr. 
Law !'< ace's death, L30-] 

Fillmore, Millard, 81, 105, K 

Fishery Question, 93-95, 244 

Fortification Bill, 20. 



252 



INDEX. 



Forward, Walter, 30. 

Fox and Henderson, 98, 242. 

Fox, Charles James, 104. 

Fox, Sir Charles, 98. 

France : political changes, 106 ; cotton 
spinning, 175 ; settlements in America, 
198; footing in West Indies, 202. 

Francis, James B., 24. 

Franciscan missionaries, 201. 

Franklin, Benjamin, 224, 225. 

Franklin, Lady, 129. 

Franklin Library, 114, 115. 

Free schools, 113. 

Free Soil party, 82. 

Free Trade Convention, 1831, 30, 31. 

Frelinglmysen, Theodore, 80. 

Fundy, bay of, 69, 93. 



G. 



Gallatin, Albert, 31, 34. 

Galway steamers, 97. 

Gastriciones, Don Angel de, 223. 

German sketch of Mr. Lawrence, 142-145. 

Germany, cotton spinning, 175. 

Gerolt, Baron, 244. 

Gladstone, William Ewart, 61. 

Glover, Stephen, 7. 

Godolphin, Sir William, 204, 205. 

Graham, Sir James, 61. 

Granger, Francis, 30. 

Granville, Earl, 93, 98, 99, 102, 103, 
242, 243. 

Gray, Asa, 121. 

Gray, John C, 40-42. 

Great Western, steamer, 76. 

Green, Samuel Abbott, M.D., 142. 

Greenwood, John, 126. 

Greytown, 91, 194, 195, 242. 

Gringalsa, Spanish leader, 200. 

Grinnell, Joseph, 76, 77. 

Grotius, Hugo, 198. 

Groton : residence of the Lawrence fam- 
ily, 2, 3; academy, 3, 112; Bigelow 
family, 8. 

H. 

Hale, Nathan, 40, 137, 138. 
Halifax, 69-71, 73. 
Hall, Andrew T., 14. 
Hall, Basil, 11. 



Hamilton, Rev. James, 85. 

Hankey, Thomson, Jr., 98. 

Harding, Chester, viii, 141. 

Harrisburg, tariff convention, 29, 30. 

Harrison, William Henry, 60, 75. 

Harvard University, 4, 116-124. 

Healy, G. P. A., 141. 

Helper, Hinton R., 37. 

Herbert, Sidney, 61. 

Hibemia, steamer, 73, 74. 

" Hidden Church, The," 128, 129. 

Hindostan, cottons, 169. 

Hise, Elijah, 185. 

Hitchings, Captain, 70. 

Hobbs, Alfred C, 101. 

Hobby, General, 20S, 209. 

Hodgson, Robert, 207-212. 

Holland: visit to, 72; footing in West 

Indies, 202. 
Holl, Francis, viii, 141. • 
Honduras, 189, 196, 221. 
Honduras, bay of, 200, 214, 221. 
Honduras, cape, 195, 199. 
Hooper, Samuel, 108. 
Horn Lane, Boston, 5. 
Horsford, Eben N., 116, 117, 119. 
Hubbard, William J., letter to, 112,113. 
Hudson River, railroad to, 11, 13. 
Hume, Joseph, 96. 
Hungary, 92. 



I. 



" Impending Crisis," 37. 

Indians, Central American, 190-229. 

Indians, North American, 224. 

Ingersoll, Charles J., 30. 

Ingersoll, Joseph R., 241. 

Ireland, 74 ; tour in, 96, 234 ; emigra- 
tion, 96, 238 ; postal revenue, 231 ; 
resources, 235 ; population, religion, 
and land-holders, 236 ; manufactures 
and poverty, 237 ; wages and produce, 
239 ; education, 240. 



J. 



Jackson, Andrew, criticism on his 

measures, 15-21. 
Jackson, Patrick T., 9, 24, 40, 172. 
Jacob, Henry, 127. 



INDEX. 



253 



Jamaica, island of, 202, 203, 20S-229 

passim. 
Jamaica Pond, water supply, 42. 
James River, water-power, 37 
Jeremy, King, 217, 219. 
John, ease of the, 243. 
Johnson, Francis, 126. 
Jones, case of the, 243. 
Judkins, Charles H. E., 73. 

k. 

Kavanagh, Edward, 63. 
Keese, Richard, 30. 
Kendall, Amos, 4. 
Kendrick, Captain, 69, 70. 
Kent, Edward, 63. 
Kent, James, 198. 
Iviunicutt, Thomas, 76, 77. 
Kirk, Rev. Edward N., 128. 
Knowles, Governor, 214. 
Kossuth, Louis, 90-92. 
Kuhn, William P., 127- 

L. 

Lajipson, Sir Curtis M., 98. 

Landholding, in Ireland, 236. 

La Plata River, 214. 

Las Casas, Francis de, 199, 200. 

Lawes, Governor, 219. 

Lawrence, A. & A., 5-7, 10, 24. 

Lawrence, Abbott (arranged chronologi- 
cally) : ancestry, 2 ; birth (1792) and 
education, 3 ; comes to Boston (1808), 
apprenticeship to his brother Amos, 5; 
firm of A. & A. Lawrence (1814), 5 ; 
War of 1S12, enters the militia service, 
and applies for a commission in the 
army, 6 ; close of the war, visits Europe 
for the first time (1816), 7; prompt 
shipment of his first purchases, 7 ; in- 
cident on his return from the Conti- 
nent (ISIS), 72 ; marriage (1S19), 8 ; 
becomes a communicant at Brattle 
Square Church, 125 ; delegate to the 
Harrisburg Convention (1827), 29; his 
firm becomes interested in mills at 
Lowell (1830), 10; a member of the 
Common Council (1831), 57; elected 
to Congress (1834), 14, 57 ; speech in 



behalf df the Western Railroad (1835), 
12; declines re-elect ion in Congress 

(1836), 57 ; letter declining a public 
dinner (1S37), 14; second election to 
Congress (1838), :>', ; severe illness in 
Washington (1840), 58; resigns his 
seat, 58 ; takes an active part in the 
Harrison campaign, 60; is appointed 
a commissioner mi the Northeastern 
Boundary Question (1842), 63; his suc- 
cess as a negotiator, 67 ; presides at 
Whig State Convention, 7~> ; speaks at 
Marlborough Chapel on the tariff, 33 ; 
sails for England (1^ fc3 i, 69 : wrecked 
on Seal Island, 70 ; a summer in Great 
Britain. 73; member of the National 
Whig Convention, and an elector at 
large for Massachusetts (1811), 78 ; 
letter on Whig politics, 78 ; establishes 
prizes at the Boston High School, 
112; speaks at a reunion of the New 
England Guards, 52; anecdote of the 
War of 1S12, 54 ; speaks in favor of 
the introduction of water into Boston, 
40 ; incorporation of the Essex Com- 
pany, and the foundations of Law- 
rence laid (IS i:>). 2 i ; speaks again in 
favor of an increased water supply, 
40 ; establishes prizes in the Boston 
Latin School, 113; letters to Mr. 
Rives on the tariff (1846), viii, 28, 
151, 156, 171 ; an appeal from citizens 
of Virginia, 31; counsels moderation 
in reference to the tariff, 34; founds 
the Scientific School at Cambridge 
(1817), 117 ; letter to the treasurer 
of Harvard College, 117; gin to 
the Franklin Library, Lawrence, lit; 
supports General Taylor for the 
presidency (ISIS), 80; his own defeat 
for the vice-presidency, s( *-. speaks 
during the Taylor campaign, 82 ; Whig 
dinner at the 'Fremont House, 11 ; de- 
clines a seal in the cabinet ( L849), 82 ; 
appointed Minister to England, viii, 83; 
sails for England, 83 ; residence at the 
Court of St. .lames, 85 : despatch on 
the Navigation Laws, L82; illness at 
Sheen, and intimacy with Mr. Joshua 
Bates, 105, 188 ; despatches on Cen- 
tral American affairs (1849-1850), 86, 
L85, L88, r.'l, 22S; visit to Blanches- 



2-A 



INDEX. 



ter and Liverpool, 97, 115 ; letter to 
the Rev. John Waddington of South- 
wark (1851), 127; International Ex- 
hibition, 53, 97; visit to Ireland, 96; 
despatch on International Postage, 
230 ; Mr. Peabody's dinner, 98 ; de- 
spatch on the Condition of Ireland, 
231 ; private letter from Mr. Webster, 
90; Mr. Lawrence's reply, 91; de- 
spatch on International Postage (1852), 
231 ; the Fishery Question, 91 ; the 
" headland theory," a modification of 
the British instructions secured, 91 ; 
correspondence on the British light- 
dues, 95, 212 ; letter to the President, 
resigning his mission, 105 ; closing 
despatch, 106, 211 ; returns to the 
United States, 107 ; a public dinner 
offered and declined, 107, 108; trib- 
utes from the English press, 109 ; from 
the American press, 110 ; receives de- 
gree of LL.D. from Williams College, 
121 ; incorporation of the Pacific Mills 
(1853), 26 ; opposes the new State 
Constitution, 129 ; attends Jubilee 
Celebration at Groton Academy 
(1851), 1,112; receives degree of 
LL.D. from Harvard College, 121; 
letter to Lord Clarendon, approving 
the Reciprocity Treaty with Canada, 
(1855), 211; 'last illness and death, 
129-131 ; memorial services at Faiieuil 
Hall, vii, 131; funeral, and memorial 
discourse by the Rev. Dr. Lothrop, 
133; a reminiscence of his benevolence, 
131; Mr. Nathan Hale's tribute, 137 ; 
public bequests under his will, 139 ; 
tribute from the " New York Evening 
Mail," 139 ; model lodging-houses, 
110 ; list of published addresses and 
despatches, 111 ; portraits and busts, 
viii, 141 ; a German account of his life 
and fortunes, 142. 

Lawrence, Abbott, son of Abbott Law- 
rence, viii, 140-142. , 

Lawrence, Abbott, grandson of Abbott 
Lawrence, viii, ix. 

Lawrence, Amos, grandfather of Abbott, 
3. 

Lawrence, Amos, brother of Abbott, 5, 
24, 37, 85, 122, 123, 137- 

Lawrence, James, 70, 128, 133, 139. 



Lawrence, John, emigration, 2. 
Lawrence, Prescott, 2, 141. 
Lawrence, Samuel, father of Abbott: 

his Revolutionary services, 2, 3; his 

wife (Susanna), 3. 
Lawrence, Samuel, brother of Abbott 

23, 24. 
Lawrence, T. Bigelow, 9S, 104, 111, 

139. 
Lawrence, William, 24. 
Lawrence Academy, 3, 4, 112. 
Lawrence, city of, 25, 26, 114. 
Lawrence Company, 10. 
Lawrence Prizes, 112-114. 
Lawrence Scientific School, 116-124, 

139. 
Lee, Captain, 211. 
Lee, Rt. Rev. James Prince, 116. 
Lcsseps, Ferdinand de, 88. 
Lexington : Abbott family, 3. 
Liberty party, 82. 
Liberty Square, Boston, 6. 
Liebig, Baron, 119. 
Light-dues, British, 95, 96, 242. 
Lighthouse on the Bahamas, 242. 
Limerick, 234 ; letter to mayor of, 96. 
Lincoln, Levi, 29, 32, 80. 
Lincoln, Lord, 61 

Liverpool : visit, 71 ; Lord Elgin's ad- 
dress to merchants, 91. 
Livingston, Edward, 225. 
Lobos Island, 214. 
Logwood, 201, 205. 
London, residence in, 85-101. 
London Coffee House, dinner at, 98- 

104. 
" London Times : " Ashburton Treaty, 

65, 66 ; Mosquito Question, 8S, 188. 
Long Pond, water supply, 39-51. 
Loriug, Charles G., 67. 
Lothrop, Rev Samuel K., 98, 125, 12S, 

133, 137. 
Louisa, case of the, 213. 
Louisa Beaton, case of the, 213. 
Louisiana Settlements, 198. 
Lowell, Francis Cabot, 9, 21, 108. 
Lowell, John Amory, 24, 25, 172. 
Lowell, Mrs. Augustus (Miss Lawrence), 

83, 96. 
Lowell : the city established, 9-22 ; 

dinner, 21, 25 ; investments, 27 ; 

mills, 162. 



INDEX. 



255 



Lowndes, William J., 9. 
Lyeil, Lady, 129, 130. 
Lyman, George W., 24. 
Lyman, Theodore, 2 I. 
Lytton, Sir Edward Bulwer (Lord Lyt- 
tou), 13S, 139. 

M. 

Macaul.vy, Thomas Babington, 73. 

Madrid, treaty of, 203, 201. 
Magdalen Islands, '.) 1. 
Maine, northeastern boundary, 62, G3. 
Malmesbury, Lord, 91, 110. 
Manchester: visit in 1815, 7; reception 

in 1S50, 97, 98; speech, 115, 116; 

the spinners, 157. 
Manufactures in different parts of the 

United States, 143-155. 
Maps : Central America, 196 ; Ireland, 

235. 
Marblehcad, march to, in 1812, 54. 
Marcoleta, Mr., 212. 
Marcy-Elgin Treaty, 95. 
Marett, Philip, letter to, 59. 
Margaret, steamer, 73. 
Margate, 72. 

Market Street, Boston, 5, 6. 
Marlborough Street (old), Boston, 5. 
Marshall, John, 198. 
Maryland : resources, 152-153 ; tariff 

questions, 156-181. 
Mason, Jonathan, 98. 
Massachusetts : Northeastern boundary 

question, 62, 63 ; Constitution of 

1853, 129 ; tariff question, 176-181 ; 

population, 178 ; savings banks, 180. 
Massachusetts Historical Society, vii, 

124. 
Mechanics and the tariff, 19, 20. 
Mechanics Apprentices Association, 137. 
Med ford, Bigelow family, 8. 
Melbourne, Lord, 61. 
" Memorial History of Boston," 40, 54. 
Mcranda, Juan Joseph Solis de, 213, 

214. 
Merchants, in public affairs, 56. 
Meredith, William M., 83. 
Merida, 200, 205. 
Merrimac Biver, 9, 23-26, 36. 
Merrimac Water Power Association, 

23-26. 



Mexico, 90, 92, 93, 221, 234. 
Middlesex Canal, 39. 
Militia, 51-55. 
Milk Si reet, Boston, 5, 6. 

Mills, , billies Iv., 14. 

Mills, John, 63. 

Milo, ship, 7, 8. 

Mississippi River, colonies, 199. 

Model lodging-houses, 139, 110, 142. 

Modyford, Sir Thomas, 202. 

Molina, Mr., 212. 

Montejo, 200. 

Morgan, Colonel, 208-210. 

Morning Star, case of the, 216, 220. 

Morpeth, Lord (Earl of Carlisle), 67,. 

76. 
Morris, Colonel, 218. 
Mosquito Indians, 93, 190-229. 
Mosquito kings, 91, 194-229. 
Mosquito Question, 86-93, 185-229. 
Musket, relic of Bunker Hill, 2. 
"Muskitos,"217. 



N. 

Nassau, New Providence, ix. 

Navigation Laws, 1S2-185. 

Neponset River, water supply, 42. 

Nesmith, John, 24. 

Netherlands, King of, 61. 

Newcastle, Duke of, private letters, 
207. 

New England Guards, 6, 51-55. 

New England Historic Genealogical So- 
ciety, vii, viii, 78, 124. 

New England Manufactures, 29, 151— 
181. 

New Grenada, 189, 192. 

New Spain, 206. 

"New Spayne," 204. 

New York Chamber of Commerce, 235. 

"New York Evening Mail," obituary, 
139, 140. 

"Niagara, steamer, 107. 

Nicaragua, 88, 185-229 passim. 

Niles, Hezekiah, 30. 

"Niks' Weekly Register," 10. 

Norcross, Loring, 41. 

Northeastern Boundary, 61-6S. 

Norway, trade with, 184. 

Nullification Ordinance, 31. 



250 



INDEX. 



O. 

O'Brien, Smith, 110. 

Olauclio, 200. 

Olid, Spanish leader, 200. 

Omoa, 200. 

Otis, Harrison Gray, 57. 

Otis, John, 63. 



Pacific Mills, 26. 

Pacific Ocean, 88 ; trade, 185 ; discovery, 

200. 
Pacific States, 189. 
Paige, James W., 108. 
Palfrey, John Gorham, 76, 125. 
Palmerston, Lord, 61, 66, 86-95 passim, 

241, 243; Central American Question, 

185-229 passim ; Postal Question, 230. 
Panama, 197. 
Panama Canal, 192, 193. 
Panama, isthmus of, 86-93 passim, 189. 
Paris, treaty of, 214, 216, 224. 
Parker, Joel, 4. 
Parker, Susanna, 2. 
Parker, William, 2. 
Patagonia, settlement of, 198. 
Patterson, Joseph, 30. 
Patterson, Robert, 30. 
Paxton, Sir Joseph, 98. 
Peabody, Augustus, 55. 
Peabody, George, 98-105. 
Peace of 1783, 61. 
Peace of Paris, 206. 
Peel, Sir Robert, 61, 67, 106. 
Peirce, Benjamin, 134, 136. 
Pennsylvania Society for the Promotion 

of Manufactures, 29. 
Perkins, Thomas Handasyde, letter in 

1825, 6, 7. 
Perkins, Thomas S., 30. 
Peru, 212, 244. 
Phi Beta Kappa dinner, 65. 
Philip, II., 223. 
Phillips, Stephen O, 76. 
Pilgrim Church, London, 126, 127, 129. 
Pittsburg, water supply, 48. 
Playfair, Sir Lyon, 98. 
Polignac, Prince, 222. 
Polk, James Knox, 31, 79, 161. 
Portraits of Mr. Lawrence, 141, 142. 



Portugal : relations to Brazil, 198 ; rights 

in America, 224, 225. 
Portuguese Adventurers in Central 

America, 201. 
Postage, international, 141, 230-233. 
Postal convention, 230, 242. 
Potomac, Great Palls of, 34, 35. 
Poverty in Ireland, 237. 
Power-loom, 9, 10. 
Powers, Hiram, 141, 142. 
Poyais, 221. 

Preble, William Pitt, 63. 
Prescott, William, 2. 
Prescott, William Hickling : Memoir of 

Mr. Lawrence, vii, 2, 8, 58, 64, 86-93, 

129, 130. 
President, loss of the, 72. 
Prometheus, case of the, 90, 242. 
Providence, island of, 217, 218. 
Prussia, trade with, 184. 
Public lands, 19. 
Pulteney, Sir William, 206, 207- 

Q. 

Queenstown, 96, 97, 235. 
Quincy, Josiah, 32, 39. 
Quincy, Josiah, Jr., 51. 



R. 



" Rabble," author of a satire, 50. 

Railroads: construction, 9-22; exten- 
sion, 12 ; Boston and Providence, 11, 
12 ; Western, 11, 46 ; Boston and 
Lowell, 12 ; Boston and Worcester, 
12-14; Troy and Stockbridge, 13; 
Burlington and Ogdensburg, 153 ; 
Panama, 189. 

Read, James, 14. 

Reciprocity Treaty, 95, 244, 245. 

Religion and education, 115 ; in Ireland, 
236. 

Republican party, 129. 

Revere, Joseph W., 11. 

Revolutionary War, 162, 180, 215, 216, 
224. 

Richmond : letter from, 34, 35 ; water- 
power, 153-155. 

" Richmond Enquirer," 37. 

"Richmond Whig," 151, 156. 



INDEX. 



257 



Rio del Possession, 199. 

Rio Janeiro, imports, 107. 

Ritner, Joseph, 30. 

River navigation, L53. 

Rives, Win. C. : letters to, 2?, 34, 115, 

125, L51-181; French mission, -241. 
Holers. Samuel, 73. 
Rolfe, John, 167. 
Rotcli, Benjamin S., 98. 
Rotcli, Mrs. B. S. (Miss Lawrence), 67, 

141. 
Roxas, Spanish leader, 200. 

Ruggles, Samuel B., 135, 136. 

Uumford, Count, 117. 

Rumford Professorship, 116, 117, 119, 

120. 
Russell, Lord John, 88, 93. 



Saxdy Bay, 203. 

San Francisco de Campeche, 205. 

San Juan, 93, 228. 

San Juan River, 195. 

Saunders, Daniel, 24. 

Saville, Sir George, 132. 

Savings Banks in Massachusetts, 1G6. 

Scotch Church, London, 126. 

Seal Island, 69, 70. 

Sea-Mew, ease of the, 243. 

Segovia, 200. 

Senock, Dawkra, 210. 

Shannon, Neil, 71, 73. 

Shannon River, 235. 

Shaw, Robert Gould, 103, 109. 

Ships, cost of, in England, 182, 1S5. 

Shoe and Leather Dealers' Convention, 
31. 

Silk, use of, in 1815, 6, 7. 

Silliman, Benjamin, 136. 

Skinner, Francis, 108. 

Slavery agitation, letter on, 81. 

Slave-trade, 61. 

Sloane, Sir Hans, 216-219. 

Smith, Jerome Y. C, M.D., 131. 

Solway, steam packet, 72. 

Smith Sea Company, 211. 

South, the : products, 28, 151-181 pas- 
sim; sentiment, 29; manufactures, 
35-37; rights, Si ; education, 154, 
155; troubles in L842, 160; general 
considerations, 151-181 pass////. 



S luthwark, Church in, 126-128. 

Spain, interest and rights in Central 
America and Wes1 [ndies, 87-93, 195- 
229 passim. 

Spot Pond, water supply, 41-51. 

Sprague, Peleg, 31. 

Squier, Ephraim G, 185, 192, 

St. Catalina, 217, 218. 

St. James River, 15 k 

St. John, John R., 101. 

St. John River, 65. 

State banks in Massachusetts, L5-19. 

Stevens, John Austin, 31. 

.Stevenson, Andrew, 60, 61, 66. 

Stevenson, J. Thomas, speech at Mr. 
Lawrence's death, 132. 

Storrow, Charles S., 24. 

Strangeways, Captain, 221. 

Sturgis, Russell, 98. 

Sturgis, WUliam, 24, 67, 108, 131. 

Sub-treasury system, 16-19. 

Suffolk Company, 10. 

Suffolk County in Old and New Eng- 
land, 2. 

Sullivan, George, 52, 55. 

Sumner, Charles, 67, 76, 77. 

Sutton, Eben, ix. 

Sweden, trade with, 134. 



Tanker's Lake, Boston, 5. 

Tappan, Lewis W., 10S. 

Tariff: established in 1816, 9 ; proposed 
reduction in 1837, 19, 20 ; protei 
27-37 ; Mr. Webster's opinion, 29 ; 
Harrisburg Convention, 29, 30 ; <>l 
1828, 31; President Polk, 79; letters 
on, 141 ; letters to Mr Rives, viii, 
151-181; McGregor's Bistory, 221 

Taylor, Zachary, 81-84, 89, 135, L93. 

Tea, value of, in L815, 6, 1. 
Tehuantepec, 88, 1U7, 200. 
Tennyson, Alfred, quotation from, i\. 
Texas, annexation. 2 1 . 22 I- 
Thompson, Edward II., 101. 
Three Sons, schooner, 69. 
Ticknor, George, 82, 1 l.\ L43, 

Tigris, case of the, 2 k3. 
Tobacco, 157. 

Towne Memorial Fund, vii. 
Townscnd Bay, 70. 



17 






177 



2oS 






INDEX. 



2 - sr 



Transportation in United States, 15:?. 

Treaties: Ashbmton, 60-68, 75, 83; 
Clayton-Bulwer, 87 et seq., 141, 193; 
of Madrid, 202, 204; Marcy-Elgin, 
95 ; of 1783, 220, 221, 225 ; of 1786, 
220, 225; of 1812, 245; of Paris, 
214, 216, 224; Reciprocity, 95, 244, 
245 ; of Versailles, 215, 216 ; of West- 
phalia, 224. 

Trelawney, Governor, 207, 214. 

Tremont Company, 10. 

Tripoli, wreck of the, 69. 

Truxillo, 199, 200. 

Tyler, John, 60, 61, 63, 76, 77. 

Tyler, Jonathan, 24. 



u. 

United States, population, 124. 



V. 



Valladolid, 200, 205. 

Van Buren, Martin, 82. 

VatteL Emerich, 198. 

Veragua, 200. 

Vera Paz., 196. 

Vernon, Admiral, 206, 207, 211. 

Vernon manuscripts, 207, 208, 22s. 

Versailles, treaty of, 215, 216. 

Virginia : proposition from, 34-37 ; natu- 
ral resources, 152-155 passim; tariff 
question, 156-181 passim; population, 
152, 177, 178. 

W. 

Waddington, Rev. John, 126-129. 

Wager manuscripts, 207. 

Wager, Sir Charles, 207, 211. 

Wales, Thomas B., 11. 

Walker, Amasa, 11. 12. 

Walker, Rev. James. 4. 

Walker, Robert J., 33, S4, 98, 103, 160, 

181. 
Walley, John, 6. 
Walley, Samuel Hurd, 76. 
Waltham Mill, 9. 
War of 1S12, 6, 9, 28, 52, 54, 165. 



Warwick, Earl of, 217. 
Washburn, Emory, 76. 
Washington, case of the, 233. 
Water-power in Virginia, 154. 
Water supply of Boston, 38-51. 
Waterloo, battle of, 8. 
Watertowu, residence of John Law- 
rence, 2. 
" Way to Fortune," German fiction, 

142-115. 
Waylaud, Rev. Francis, 135. 
Wavs and Means, services on Committee 

of, 57. 
Webster, Daniel: on the tariff, 29; on 
the Compromise Act of 1842, 31; on 
William Appleton, 60; Northeastern 
Boundary complications, 60, 62-64 ; 
Creole, 67 ; speech on W T hig politics, 
76, 81; letter on Mosquito Question, 
89; death, 107; the tariff letters, 170; 
letters to, 230-246. 
Webster, Ezekiel, 30. 
Welles, Gideon, 30. 
Wellington, Duke of, 86, 106. 
Westphalia, treaty of, 224. 
West, the : products of, 28, 151-181 

passim ; troubles in 1842, 160. 
Whale fishery, 184. 

Wneaton, Henry, on the art of negotia- 
tion, 84. 
Whig party: 34, 60, 75-84 passim, 129. 
Whistler, George W., 46, 47. 

White, , 185. 

Whitehead, Mr., 209. 
Whittier, John Greenleaf, 23, 114. 
Wight, Moses, viii, 141. 
Wilkins, John H., 39. 
Williams College, degree from, 124. 
Williams, Henry, 12, 40. 
Wilson, Henry,' 80. 

Winthrop, Robert Charles, 78 ; speech 
on Mr. Lawrence's death, vii, 2, 132. 
Woods, James, 196. 
World's Fair, 1851, 97-105, 233, 245. 
Wotton, Sir Henry, 83. 



Yorkshire, England: Abbott family, 3. 
Yucatan, 202, 204. 



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